


Not Jack: Drabbles

by vickjawn (awshitzombies)



Series: Not Jack [4]
Category: Borderlands
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-14
Updated: 2016-05-14
Packaged: 2018-06-08 11:01:39
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 27,433
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6852037
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/awshitzombies/pseuds/vickjawn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A series of filled prompts and requests from my tumblr, all set sporadically within the Not Jack universe, with varying ratings and scenarios. Each chapter/drabble will be titled and rated accordingly.</p><p>Reading Not Jack first is <b>highly</b> recommended, as some of these do contain spoilers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Request Prompt 1

**Author's Note:**

> Anonymous request prompt: "i know this is very random, but can i request a tint ficlet of what that other anon mentioned earlier, axton carrying kid to bed after hed fallen asleep while waiting for his other dad to come home ;;u;;"

Axton heaved a quiet, heavy sigh at the scene before him.

This was the third night in a row he’d caught the kid curled up in the lone chair by the doorway of their little house in Sanctuary. A part of him wanted to just move the damn thing somewhere else so he didn’t have to keep witnessing such a pathetic, heart-wrenching sight, but he had a hunch that the kid would just drag it back. Waiting like this for Lawrence to come home had become part of his daily routine now - just as looking for Lawrence had become a part of Axton’s.

Very carefully, he picked the kid up and cradled him to his chest. The kid blinked open his eyes, but slumped forward when he realized it was only Axton toting him off to bed again. Axton had a feeling that if the kid’s vocal chords worked, he’d be whining in disappointment.

“I know,” he mumbled, rubbing the kid’s back. “I wish he was here, too.”

He pulled the covers back on his bed and carefully laid down, balancing the kid on his chest. He was a little too big to stay there for long, but Axton knew the kid liked listening to his heartbeat before drifting off to sleep.

“Gotta think of a name for you, kiddo,” he mumbled, tugging on one of the kid’s curls. “That way when Lawrence comes home, he’ll have something to call you.”

The kid perked up at that and very nearly smiled.

“All right…well, Gaige wants to call you Krieg Junior. What do you think of that?”

The kid made a face like he’d smelled something nasty.

Axton laughed. “Good answer.” He let his mind wander for a bit, trying to think of influential people in his life. He didn’t want to name his kid after any of the assholes he’d worked with in the army. He almost wished Lawrence had told him his father’s name, or grandfather’s. That would’ve made this easier.

“There’s…John,” he offered hesitantly.

He wanted to kick himself the second he suggested it, but, to his surprise, the kid didn’t look too opposed to the idea. He pursed his lips as he thought about it, and a moment later he was nodding and cracking a toothy grin in satisfaction.

“John,” Axton said again, earning another nod from the kid. “That’s kinda too serious for a cute little guy like you, though. How ‘bout Johnny?”

That wrenched an even bigger grin out of the kid. It had been a while since he’d smiled like that; it melted a bit of the ice that had been steadily growing around Axton’s heart since Lawrence had vanished.

“All right, it’s settled,” Axton said, drawing Johnny into a hug. “I can’t wait to tell Lawrence that our kid has a real name now.”

Johnny let out a sigh in agreement and snuggled closer to his one dad, ever hopeful that he’d have his other dad back sooner rather than later.


	2. Request Prompt 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anonymous request prompt: "oh please please write something short with kid realizing he's a mere clone oh a very bad man, maybe punching a mirror and just taking it bad. with law giving him lots of hugs and kisses cuz he knows how horrible the child must feel, bless its tiny soul, and bless you too for making me feel so sad ;;;-;;;"

Lawrence had always known this day would come.

As it so happened, he was strolling the streets of Sanctuary on his way to visit Maya when he heard a commotion from down the road behind him. When he turned, he was startled to find the Sanders boys, Nathan and Joshua, sprinting full-speed down the street towards him. At first he thought the boys were just playing another game of hide-and-seek, with Johnny as the seeker given his absence in the trio, but the closer they got, the more he realized something was wrong.

“Lawrence! Lawrence!” they were yelling as they approached. Definitely not playing.

“What’s wrong?” he blurted, steadily growing more and more terrified at the sight of their sniveling faces. “What happened? Are you guys okay?”

“It’s Johnny,” Joshua wailed in between hiccups. “He got upset and ran away.”

Lawrence felt his shoulders relax slightly. Running away he could handle. “What upset him enough to make him run away?” he asked.

“It’s my fault,” Nathan rasped. The fifteen-year-old was pale and looked as if he’d been crying. “I-I wanted him to show us around the Crimson Raiders headquarters a-and we uncovered all these files on Handsome Jack and - ”

“We thought he knew,” Joshua cried. “We thought he knew he was a clone of Handsome Jack, but he didn’t.”

Lawrence bit his lip and mentally kicked himself. He and Axton had skipped out on that little bit of information when they’d sat Johnny down a year or so ago and explained to him what a clone was. He knew they’d come to regret that some day.

“Nathan,” Lawrence said, bending down to squeeze the sniffling kid’s shoulders. “It’s okay. Just tell me where he went.”

The teenager shrugged helplessly. “He just took off. I’m sorry, I dunno.”

“That’s okay, too,” Lawrence said, offering both boys a gentle smile. “What kind of dad would I be if I didn’t know where my kid was, huh? Don’t worry about it, kiddos. I’ll find him.”

“Can you, like, sense him with your superpowers?” Joshua asked, frantically rubbing the tears out of his eyes.

“No,” Lawrence said, cracking a small smile, “but I am in a relationship with a paranoid vault hunter who happens to have a penchant for tucking tracking devices into his loved ones’ clothes whenever he thinks we’re not looking.” The fact that Johnny had a metal leg made it easier for Axton to subtly stick a magnetized chip in between the circuits. All Lawrence had to do was type the code into his ECHO and it would point him in the right direction.

That seemed to mollify both boys a little bit, though they still looked terrible ashamed with themselves.

“Hurry,” Joshua whispered, wide eyed and haunted. “He knows everything now.”

~

Johnny couldn’t breathe.

Well, he had trouble breathing on a good day, but right now he was finding it particularly hard to catch his breath. The wet, hiccuping sobs tearing out of his chest certainly weren’t helping.

Dimly, he realized that this was what a panic attack must feel like. Sometimes his pop would wake up yelling from a nightmare and his dad would sit with him and hug him until he was able to breathe normally again. Johnny wanted someone to hug him, too, but he was all alone now, tucked away into the bathroom of an abandoned, half-collapsed building in Sanctuary. He didn’t deserve hugs anyway. Who’d wanna hug a mass-murdering psychopath?

He met his own watery gaze in the dirty mirror above the old moldy sink. He took in his brown, wavy hair, his different colored eyes, the jut of his cleft chin and his cheekbones, and saw that terrible man staring back at him, the one who hurt so many people, his dad included.

A spike of rage jolted through him; he jumped to his feet and plunged his fists through the mirror, shattering it into large, dangerous shards that gathered in the old sink below him. A few sliced his knuckles up good; he unclenched his shaking fists and gaped down at the dark red blood trickling down his fingers. The sight of it made him start crying anew even though he deserved to feel pain.

“You know, if this were any other day, I’d ground your skinny butt for making me think you had jumped ship.”

Johnny whirled around, panicked at the sight of his dad standing in the doorway of the bathroom. All he could focus on was the big crooked scar skating up his dad’s face, distorting his features and claiming one of his eyes. He had done that, Johnny thought. In another life, he had done that to his daddy.

His dad noticed what he’d done to his hands, and for a second Johnny was sure he was going to start crying, too.

“It’s okay,” his dad said quietly in a voice that made Johnny feel even worse than he already did. “I know you’re scared and upset. I’m not here to yell at you.”

Johnny tried to sign, but his hands hurt too much. His face scrunched up with another round of tears as his arms came to rest uselessly at his sides.

His dad knelt down in front of him and took his one bloodied hand between his own, healing the wounds in less than an instant and taking the pain away. He did the same with his other hand, making it as though nothing had ever happened.

A large chunk of Johnny wished his dad could make the rest of him disappear, too.

As soon as his dad was done, Johnny ripped his hands out of his grasp and took a big step away from him. “You and Pop never told me I was the clone of some tyrannical asshole,” he signed rapidly, making his dad squint and shake his head in confusion when he couldn’t follow along. Johnny signed it again, slower, without the bad word. He was in enough trouble.

His dad sighed and nodded. “You’re right, we didn’t. We were going to wait until you were older - ”

Johnny clapped his hands, cutting his dad off, then signed, “I can understand things _now_! I’m not stupid!”

“We don’t think you are,” his dad assured him firmly. “You’re smarter than the both of us combined. But a lot of the stuff Handsome Jack did was awful and we didn’t want you to have to live with that knowledge until we were sure you could handle it.”

“Josh and Nate know,” Johnny signed defensively. “They knew since they were like, babies.”

“They lived through his reign,” his dad said, frowning sadly. “Handsome Jack targeted them at one point, but they escaped before he could hurt them.”

Johnny recoiled, even more appalled now. Why did the Sanders even want him in their house? Why did Moira and Keith let him within three feet of their children?

His dad must have been reading his thoughts or something, because he continued with: “Josh and Nate still want to be your friend. They were the ones who came to get me when you ran, you know. They’re very worried about you.”

That made Johnny’s eyes fill up again. “I didn’t mean to scare them,” he signed sloppily, but his dad understood anyway. “We shouldn’t have gone snooping to begin with.”

“It’s all right. What kind of stuff did you three discover in there?”

“Mostly just stuff about Handsome Jack,” Johnny signed reluctantly, bitterly. “He did a lot of bad stuff.”

“He did,” his dad agreed, nodding.

Johnny bit his lip. “There was a recording of a story you told,” he signed slowly. “Didn’t listen to all of it. But you talked about how Handsome Jack did that to you.” He pointed to the scar on his face. “Hurt you.”

He’d never heard his dad sounding so scared and sad before as he described the way Handsome Jack branded him. Johnny almost didn’t want to believe that it had really been his dad talking in that audio. His dad - who could vaporize things with his mind if he really wanted to - reduced to a crying mess by a mere memory of Handsome Jack, the man Johnny was going to grow up to be? The thought made Johnny want to punch more stuff. He didn’t want his dad to be scared like that ever again.

His dad swallowed hard and averted his gaze for a second. “He did,” he said again quietly. “A long time ago, he hurt me very, very badly.”

Johnny couldn’t keep his chest from heaving with a sob as a fresh round of tears made their way down his flushed cheeks. “I’m Handsome Jack.”

That made his dad narrow his eyes in a burning glare. “You are not,” he snapped in a voice that would have frightened Johnny any other day. “Your name is Johnny Krieg. You might have Jack’s looks and some of his tech-smarts, but you are _nothing_ like him.”

Genetically speaking, he was everything like him, Johnny though bitterly, trying to back away from his dad. But his dad reached out and gently took his tiny hands in his, squeezing them reassuringly as he continued.

“Listen to me. You’re too kind. You’re too generous and concerned with people’s well-being to be Handsome Jack. Trust me, kiddo - I worked with the dude for a long time. You know what my job was?”

Johnny shook his head, still sniveling.

“I was hired to be just like him down to the letter. I had to mimic everything about him - his looks, his attitude, his lack of morality - everything. So you can trust me when I say that you’re nothing like that prick. If you’d been hired as his body double, you would’ve been fired by now.”

That wrenched a snort out of Johnny.

“Plus,” his dad offered offhandedly, “Handsome Jack didn’t have two cool-ass dads to raise him like you do. Maybe if he had, he wouldn’t have turned out to be such a douchebag.”

Johnny cracked a small grin at that. His dads _were_ pretty cool - not that he’d ever admit that out loud.

“You might be his clone, but that doesn’t mean you’ll grow up to be just like him. Always remember that you are your own person. You’ll grow up and be just like Johnny. And I think Johnny’s going to be a good person,” his dad concluded, offering him a gentle smile that finally broke the barrier Johnny had been trying so hard to build up.

With a sob, Johnny threw his arms around his dad, silently wailing into his neck. His dad hushed him gently, holding him tightly with one arm while the other was busy writing “I-heart-you” over and over onto Johnny’s back - something that his dads used to do when he was younger to make him feel better. Had it been any other time, Johnny would have rolled his eyes at it, but now he welcomed the gesture, practically needed it.

Eventually, after his wild sobbing had turned into whimpers and sniffles, his dad tugged him into his arms and he stood up. “Let’s go home, okay?” he offered. “I’ll see if Axton wants to make you your favorite meal for dinner.”

Johnny nodded and fell limp against his dad, exhausted but somehow feeling lighter than he had in a long time. “Does everyone know about me?” he wrote onto his dad’s shoulder as they made their way outside.

“You know I can’t decipher that method of talking, kiddo.”

With an over-dramatic groan, Johnny sat back so that his dad could see his hands and signed the same thing.

He nodded. “Pretty much everyone,” he replied. “And no one’s treated you poorly, have they?”

Johnny shook his head no, pondering. Everyone he knew in Sanctuary had always been nice to him in their own ways. Maya would let him sit in her lap and read her weird, mystical books with her. Sometimes Krieg would join them and let Johnny sit on his shoulders and make him laugh by screaming about meat and blood and whatnot. Auntie Gaige loved it when he came to visit her workshop - something about finally having someone on her level of intelligence to gush over tech with. Even Athena, who liked to frown and grumble about being “too old to babysit,” would let him help her exercise, if only because otherwise he would stare at her from across the room like she was the coolest thing on the planet.

No one had ever treated him like anyone other than Johnny, he realized. Because that’s who he was - Johnny Krieg the Kid. Some stupid DNA would never change that, he vowed. Pandora would never see another Handsome Jack.

“When you get older, I’m sure outsiders will give you trouble for the way you look. I have no doubts you’ll be able to handle it.” His dad offered him a smirk and a wink. “Though if things get too bad, don’t forget you’ve got an entire family of vault hunters willing to kick some ass for you, too.”

“Yeah!” Johnny signed, grinning at the thought of facing off with some bullies with Auntie Gaige and Maya and Athena at his back. “I have the best family.”

“You do,” his dad said softly, drawing him into another tight hug. “We’re all so lucky that you’ve become a part of it.”


	3. Nonsexual Acts of Intimacy Prompt 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From a Nonsexual acts of Intimacy prompt meme on tumblr: "♤:Taking a bath together"

“I’m not gonna fit,” Lawrence said.

Axton waggled his eyebrows up at him and said, predictably, “That’s what he said.”

Lawrence rolled his eyes and contemplated on leaving his meme-loving partner to bathe all by his lonesome, but the hot, steaming water in the tub did look very welcoming, even if it was currently occupied by one very smug ex-soldier.

Shrugging in defeat, Lawrence yanked off his shirt while his lover pumped his fists into the air in victory. “Yess,” he hissed. “I knew you wouldn’t be able to resist this naked, wet, ballin’-ass body.”

Lawrence rolled his eyes and struggled to bite back a smile. “Or it could just be because I need to wash anyway,” he pointed out. “This’ll save water.”

“Ch’eah, sure, keep tellin’ yourself that.”

“I think I will,” Lawrence said, resisting the urge to throw one of his dirty socks at the commando. He shimmied out of his pants, adding them to the growing pile of discarded clothing next to the sink.

“Got a seat right here for ya, darlin’,” Axton cooed, spreading his legs in what was probably meant to be in an enticing way, but Lawrence could only snort. The tub wasn’t wide enough for that kind of half-assed seduction.

Once he’d shed the last of his clothing, Lawrence stuck his toes into the water and let out an appreciative hum at the warmth. Thankfully the Eridium in his blood didn’t keep him from feeling the simple pleasures in life.

Instead of sitting in Axton’s lap, Lawrence positioned himself across from him, sliding his legs up and out of the water to rest on either side of Axton’s head. Axton wrinkled his nose at the appendages, and as if that wasn’t bad enough, Lawrence had to reach for the apple-scented bubble bath.

“Aw, c'mon! I don’t wanna smell like sweet shit when I’m out shootin’ bandits later,” Axton whined, moving to prod at Lawrence’s ass with his foot.

“You wanted this,” Lawrence reminded him, grinning as he stirred and churned the water, bringing the bubbles to life. The appley scent began to fill the small space; Lawrence inhaled deeply and exhaled, satisfied, if only for the sour face Axton was sending him right now. “You’re right, this was a good idea. Thanks for inviting me in, babe.”

Axton huffed and let his head fall back against the rim of the tub. “You’re lucky you’re cute.”

Lawrence hummed, pleased, and sank deeper into the tub until the hot water was lapping at his chin. It brought him ass-to-ass with Axton, who was still resolutely ignoring him and his offensive fruity bubble bath. Lawrence grinned and nudged the back of his head with his foot.

“Stop it,” Axton grumbled around the fourth or fifth poke. His eyes were still closed, but his expression was tight with irritation. “You’re an ass and I hate you.”

“I know,” Lawrence burbled, words lost to the bath water.

He tried to trap Axton’s head between his feet, but the commando seized one of his legs and sank his teeth into the skin of his calf, making Lawrence jerk and shriek more so in outrage than pain. He thrashed, sending some of the sudsy water onto the bathroom floor. Axton scowled at the mess, then crooked a finger at his grinning lover.

“C’mere, ass,” Axton rumbled, leaning forward to meet a giggly Lawrence halfway in a kiss.

Before they could get too comfortable, the bathroom door swung all the way open, revealing Johnny, who had probably been wondering where his dumb dads had made off to and why he hadn’t been invited to join them. The kid’s bi-colored eyes widened in absolute outrage when he saw the bubbles - probably because he’d wanted them in his bath last night and Axton had turned him down.

“No leg in the tub!” Axton shrieked just as their kid cannon-balled between them, sending more than half of the tub’s bubbly contents splashing all over the entirety of the tiny bathroom.

Lawrence sputtered out a laugh and wiped the suds from his eyes. “Ten points!” he cheered, earning a grin out of the kid and a hi-five that sent more suds flying. “A new record! The crowd goes wild!”

On cue, Axton let his head fall back as he droned out a dull “aah” noise that resembled more a man yelling quietly in irritation than a crowd cheering. Johnny wasn’t impressed and sent another armful of water his way, further dampening the bathroom floor and the commando.

“Gaige is gonna be pissed you got that thing wet,” Axton muttered, flicking water into Johnny’s face as punishment. “Kinda like how I’m ticked off I gotta clean up the damn bathroom and wash all your wet clothes.”

“He’s due for a new leg anyway,” Lawrence said. His face was beginning to hurt from the magnitude of his grin. “And you look cute with suds in your hair.”

“Um, excuse you, I’m cute all the time,” Axton declared, puffing out his cheeks in a pout.

And well, Lawrence couldn’t argue with that.


	4. Nonsexual Acts of Intimacy Prompt 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From a Nonsexual acts of Intimacy prompt meme on tumblr: "♟ Patching up a wound"

Axton wasn’t conscious when Gaige made the frantic call to his boyfriend.

He didn’t remember how Lawrence had rushed to him and pushed his Eridium-fueled healing hands into his core, repairing all his broken bones and smashed organs and who knows what else in less than the blink of an eye.

When he came to who knows how many hours later, he was in significantly less pain - at least he thought so, until he tried to move and was nearly crippled with an eruption of agony along his shoulders and down the length of his spine.

“Oww,” he whined, hissing through gritted teeth.

Lawrence’s gaunt face popped into his line of vision. “You’re an idiot,” was the first thing out of his mouth.

“Love you, too, jeez,” Axton mumbled, managing to lift a shaking hand to rub at his eyes. At least his limbs still worked. “Did I win?”

“Did you - ” Lawrence sent him a disgusted, exasperated look. “You got smashed to shit by a bullymong, you prick! You’re lucky Gaige was with you, otherwise you’d be a rotting mess in the middle of the tundra by now.”

Axton hummed as he recalled the stunt vividly, right up until the bullymong swung its massive fists down on top of him. Things got fuzzy after that.

He winced as he tried and failed to turn his head to look at Lawrence. “I’m still sore,” he grumbled almost accusingly.

“You’re gonna be feeling it for a few days,” Lawrence confirmed, folding his arms across his chest.

Axton frowned. “You didn’t heal me all the way?”

His lover fixed him with a flat look. “No. You need to be more cautious, Ax. I think you’re getting reckless because you know I’m able to heal whatever you do to yourself.”

Axton groaned and fell back onto the pillows. “Aw c’mon, darlin’, it’s not like I’m doin’ this shit on purpose,” he whined.

“Oh no? Gaige told me exactly what happened. You tried to ram a bullymong with your runner, missed, and wound up crushed beneath the damn thing when it smashed the driver’s seat with its fists. The hell were you thinking?”

Axton felt his cheeks turning red with embarrassment and a little bit of shame. “The bastard moved,” he muttered lamely. “I thought it would be cool to send it flyin’ into the gorge - ”

“You’re reckless. And if it doesn’t get you hurt or worse, then it might to someone else. What if Gaige had been in the car with you?“

That made him wince. “You sound like my CO,” he grumbled.

“And you sound like a spoiled brat,” Lawrence snapped, shooting him a dirty look as the last of his patience ran out. “You’re as healed as you’re gonna get. Get some sleep, I’ll be in later with dinner.”

“But - ” Axton tried to sit up and winced at the dull throb that immediately swallowed his shoulders and spine. He flopped back against the bed, pouting, and watched as Lawrence disappeared out the door.

~

The rest of the day passed with a maddening sluggishness. Axton would have attempted to sleep through it, but the constant throbbing of his battered body kept him wide awake and bitter. For a while he was angry with Lawrence for being such a stubborn prick and punishing him like this, but the smarter, more mature part of his brain made him realize that shit could have been much worse for him and that he should be grateful. It didn’t take long for that side of his brain to win him over, albeit reluctantly.

He huffed and blinked up at the ceiling. He must be getting old if he was even bothering to listen to that side of his brain, never mind actually agree with it.

True to his word, Lawrence came in sometime around dusk with some soup for him. He didn’t stay long, just enough to prop Axton up with some pillows and hand him the bowl and spoon. Axton watched him walk away again, and something cold settled in his chest that the warm broth of the soup couldn’t chase away.

When it became apparent that Lawrence wasn’t about to join him in bed that night to sleep, Axton decided enough was enough and threw his legs over the side of the bed, swallowing back his hisses and groans of pain. Very, very slowly he descended the stairs into the living room where Lawrence was currently situated. He was curled up on the couch with an ECHO propped up on his knees and glanced up when he sensed Axton’s presence at the foot of the steps.

“Come to bed?” Axton rasped. His voice was shaking.

Lawrence’s jaw ticked, but he gave in quickly enough. He set his ECHO aside, then swept Axton into his arms bridal style despite the commando’s whining protests and carted his half-crippled ass up the stairs. Axton expected him to throw him onto their bed, but Lawrence set him down with the same gentleness he’d used to heal his broken bones.

Lawrence slid into bed next to him and pulled the covers up to his chest, but resolutely didn’t look at Axton beside him, choosing to keep his gaze focused on the ceiling. Axton knew the guy didn’t really sleep anymore, but they still cuddled, dammit.

“You’re right,” Axton relented through a heavy sigh.

“About?” Lawrence asked. He didn’t sound mad, but there was still a neutrality in his tone that made Axton frown.

“About me. Bein’ too reckless on missions. I need to cut back on the bullshit.”

At that, Lawrence finally rolled over on his side to face him. “I don’t want you to stop doing what you’re doing,” he said softly. “Just be more careful about it.”

Axton sighed. In his brain, careful equaled boring. He supposed he should just be grateful for the fact that Lawrence wasn’t asking him to stop going out on these missions altogether. _That_ would piss him off.

“You never used to come back as banged up as this,” Lawrence continued. “Bullet holes and burns - yeah, okay, that kinda goes with the job description. But something like this? Ax, I - ” He stopped to gather himself. “I could have lost you today, dude. And it seems like you don’t care.”

Axton shut his eyes, achy for a different reason now. “I know. Sorry. I guess I did let it get to my head that I’ve got you around to patch me up.” He went to shrug, only to cuss under his breath at the pain it brought. Lawrence reached over to touch his shoulder, forcing some of the pain away. Axton relaxed a little, grateful.

“Don’t put yourself in danger for nothing,” Lawrence said quietly, drawing his hand away. “Nobody’s gonna remember a dude who got smashed to shit by a bullymong, but I guarantee you they’ll remember the guy who stopped a tyrant and his vault monster from destroying the world.”

“Yeah.” Axton sighed again, suddenly exhausted, and let his eyes drift shut.

When he woke up the next morning, the ache in his back and shoulders were gone, and the love for the man lying beside him stronger than ever.

“Feeling better?” Lawrence murmured, voice low and thick from disuse. There was a small, silky smile on his face. Axton wanted to kiss it off him.

He rolled over and threw his arm around his lover. “Wanna make out?” he asked, waggling his eyebrows.

Lawrence laughed. “I’ll take that as a yes,” he said, grinning, and scooted closer to do just that.


	5. 1. “Come over here and make me.” (NSFW)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: 1. “Come over here and make me.” **NSFW.**

Of all the things Axton had expected to see Lawrence doing when he stepped into their shared bedroom, standing in front of the full-length mirror clad in his old Dahl uniform was not one of them.

Axton halted in the doorway, stunned, and took a moment to observe his lover. His uniform was too short in most places for the taller man, but he managed to somehow make it work. Or maybe that was just Axton’s dick talking.

When Lawrence turned to admire his posterior in the mirror, Axton could no longer keep quiet. A laugh burst out of him, making Lawrence yelp and turn a healthy shade of red at being caught in the act.

“Don’t do that!” he yelled, immediately starting to shrug out of Axton’s jacket.

“No, no, leave it on,” Axton said, coming over to sit on the edge of the bed. “And here I was thinkin’ you were as vanilla as they come.”

“I - what?” Lawrence turned even redder. “Th-that’s not - I was just trying it on. I was curious!”

“Sure,” Axton said, grinning as he kicked off his boots. “You want these, too? Y’know, to complete the whole badass commando look. I can grab all my belts and shit from downstairs if you want those.”

“Shut up,” Lawrence muttered, turning around to stare into the mirror again. His face was still burning from embarrassment, but he tried to play it off as he continued to observe himself in the mirror, oggling his ass if only to spite his lover.

Axton stopped bugging him long enough to shuck off his shirt, pants and socks in preparation for a much-needed shower. His dick was still yelling at him to do something about this bullshit, but Axton was tired enough to ignore it for the time being.

“I think your ass looks nicer in these than mine does,” Lawrence mumbled, sighing with lament as he finally stopped posturing.

“My ass is just nicer than yours period.”

“That’s not what you told me last night,” Lawrence said, sticking his nose in the air as he pouted. “You had a lot of nice things to say about my ass.”

Axton let out a pleased hum at the memory of Lawrence spread out beneath him on their bed, butt in the air and a bunch of nonsensical noises and pleading coming out of his mouth. “Yeah,” he mused. “But mine’s still nicer.”

Lawrence huffed and puffed out his chest as he started swaggering around the room. “Mah’ name’s Ah’xton,” he slurred in an obnoxiously accented, overly-gruff voice. “Ah’ think Ah’m hot shee-it an’ have the best ass on this side of the gah’laxy.”

Axton snorted and folded his arms across his chest. “If you’re tryin’ to mock me, you should probably try to say shit that ain’t true.”

Lawrence didn’t even blink. “Ah’ only wish Ah’ was as cool as mah’ boyfriend Lawrence,” he continued, whacking Axton in the face with his jacket sleeve as he passed him. “He’s super smart an’ writes the best stories an’ gives the best blowjobs ev-ar.”

“All right,” Axton grumbled, heading for their shared dresser. “Two can play at this game. Though it would be easier if you didn’t wear my clothes like, ninety percent of the time.”

“Ah’ let mah’ boyfriend steal mah’ clothes ‘cos Ah’ know he looks way better in ‘em than Ah’ do.”

Snorting, Axton rummaged around in the drawers, digging deeper, until he spotted a flash of color among the grays and browns. It was Lawrence’s old shirt, Axton realized, yanking it out. It was a hideous mustard color and worn down in several places, as was the case with most of their clothing.

“I can’t believe you still have this old thing,” Axton said as he slid it over his head. The fabric was softer than Axton thought it would be, and there was a pretty big hole near the collar from all of the adventuring Lawrence had done in it. “Gaige bought you this, didn’t she? When you first came to Sanctuary?”

“Yes.” Lawrence’s voice was strained now, and for a split second Axton thought he’d ruined the moment by bringing Lawrence back to a less than happy time. When he turned to face the man, however, he found him red-faced and sweating for an entirely different reason.

Axton looked down at himself, then back at his wide-eyed lover as a sneaky grin snaked across his face. “Oho, I see,” he teased, running his hands down the front of the shirt. It was long on him - just enough to cover up the goods but still enough to leave very little to the imagination, especially when he kicked off his undies and turned around.

“Yellow isn’t your color,” Lawrence said thickly. “You should take that off.”

Axton hummed, feigning thoughtfulness. “Mm, don’t wanna,” he decided, sauntering over to the mirror. He not so subtly brushed up against his beau before turning around to face the mirror. He stuck his ass out as he observed himself. He really didn’t look good in yellow, but that was okay. He wasn’t wearing it for the color.

“Ax,” Lawrence tried again, borderline whining now.

“Come over here and make me.” Axton leaned closer to the mirror. “My name’s Lawrence,” he started. It was easier to hold his accent back than he thought it would be, which encouraged him to continue. “I like cooing over cute animals and writing about warrior bears and blowing my hot, sexy, muscular boyfriend Axton all day every day.”

“If you say so.”

Axton grunted as he was shoved up against the mirror. Lawrence was at his back, only when Axton glanced at his reflection to stare at his lover over his shoulder, he was startled to find that Lawrence’s whole attitude was completely different…yet familiar. It hit Axton a split second later that Lawrence was really in character now. He had everything down - the cocky, semi-predatory smirk, the sharp look in his eyes that Axton knew he got sometimes whenever he was ready to rumble.

Suddenly he wasn’t tired anymore.

“Well?” Lawrence slurred, still in commando mode. Christ, he even sounded like Axton now. How was he doing that? “You like suckin’ dicks, darlin’? On your knees.”

Axton very nearly spluttered out a laugh at the absurdity of the whole situation, but he could tell that Lawrence was being serious. It was the first time he’d ever done anything remotely kinky in the bedroom. Like hell Axton was gonna pass up an opportunity like this, as silly as it was.

He sank to his knees obediently in front of his lover. He easily remembered what Lawrence looked like whenever he got in a similar position - all wide, hopeful eyes with the occasional lip biting - and he tried his hand at mimicking it.

“Good boy,” Lawrence cooed, dragging his fingers through Axton’s shorn locks - just like Axton tended to do whenever they were together like this. Shit, he was a way better actor than he let on.

Though Axton himself wasn’t as into the praise thing as Lawrence was, he was still playing a character too and reacted as best as he could to it, jerking his hips and huffing out a high-pitched groan. Lawrence seemed impressed, if the way he bit his lip and briefly lost the steely look in his gaze was any indication.

When he failed to move, Axton remembered suddenly that whenever they did this, Lawrence was the one who usually undid his pants, so he hurriedly reached up to do just that. Undoing his own uniform pants was a little weird from this angle, but not as weird as seeing Lawrence’s cock bob out from his fly.

Lawrence hummed, pleased, and inched closer so that he could rub the tip of his cock on Axton’s lips, spreading the small bead of precome that had gathered there. Axton kept still, not wanting to break character. Lawrence always let him take control whenever they got like this, so, as much as he wanted to swallow Lawrence whole and get to work, he waited patiently for the go-ahead.

Satisfied, Lawrence coaxed him to open his mouth and slowly slid his cock inside, rumbling the way Axton knew he did whenever he got to stick his dick anywhere inside his partner. It shouldn’t have been as hot as it was, but lo and behold, Axton’s cock gave a little excited jump for joy beneath the hem of his borrowed shirt.

“Lawrence doesn’t have a gag reflex,” Lawrence reminded him, tapping him on the nose and flashing him a cocky smirk that was too much like Axton for his liking.

Axton huffed, but swallowed dutifully around Lawrence’s cock as best as he could nonetheless, wanting to please him. He wasn’t as good as Lawrence was at this sort of thing, but he wasn’t Axton at the moment. He was Lawrence. So he was going to do exactly what Lawrence would do and go to fuckin’ town like this was the last time he’d ever get to have a dick in his mouth.

He relaxed his throat and took in as much of Lawrence’s length as he could in one swallow, trying to keep his gag reflex under control. For a moment he allowed himself the small victory of being able to brush his nose against the curled hair of Lawrence’s groin, but all too soon he had to pull back, sucking in a deep breath through his nostrils before diving back in, no where near as deep but more than enthusiastic enough to keep Lawrence happy.

He kept at it, humming around the head of Lawrence’s cock as he bobbed his head and jerked him off with his hands. He wished he could get his hands around Lawrence’s balls, maybe play with his hole a little - Axton loved it when Lawrence did that, damn - but he was too wound up for that now.

Lawrence was too, judging by the way he was muttering, “Good, good boy,” as he dragged his hand through Axton’s hair. Axton wished he’d dig in, tug him around a bit and bark some more orders, but Lawrence didn’t respond well to that kind of treatment, so Axton kept his mouth shut. Figuratively, anyway.

An idea struck him suddenly, making him pull off Lawrence’s cock for a second to catch his breath. Lawrence, panting and red-faced, frowned down at him, somehow managing to keep in character as he did so.

“What’s the holdup, darlin’?” he rumbled, stroking the side of Axton’s face.

Wordlessly Axton took the head of Lawrence’s cock back into his mouth, then let his throat go slack. He wiggled his eyebrows and smirked around Lawrence’s length, the implication clear: Lawrence loves it when Axton fucks his mouth.

With a strangled noise that was very un-Axton like, Lawrence gripped his lover by the back of his head and began to thrust into his pliant mouth. They were shallow, careful, barely brushing the back of his throat. Any other day Axton would have been grateful, but today was special, and dammit, he could take it. He reached up with one hand to slap Lawrence’s ass, urging him to go harder, deeper.

Just when he thought he could handle the full experience, a particularly hard thrust left Axton gagging for a second. He managed to quickly get control over himself, but not before having to pull back for air. He blinked back the tears in his eyes and quickly looked up, hoping he hadn’t ruined things.

For a second, Lawrence was Lawrence again and staring down at his lover through concerned eyes, no doubt wondering if he’d gone too far with - well, everything. But Axton didn’t want that and quickly grabbed Lawrence by his hips, sending him a look that plainly stated, fuck me.

Lawrence kept his hand on top of Axton’s head as he started thrusting again, and Axton couldn’t be happier, even as saliva dripped down his chin and his throat started to ache from how long they’d be going at it. His cock was throbbing under his borrowed shirt, but he resisted touching himself, wanting to get Lawrence off first. From the looks of things, it wouldn’t be much longer.

“Fuck,” Lawrence gasped, thrusting hard enough to send the tip of his cock bumping against the back of Axton’s throat again. “Fuck, darlin’, you feel so good.”

True to his character, Axton whimpered around Lawrence’s cock at the praise, eyelids fluttering for multiple different reasons.

Lawrence’s roleplaying fell apart the closer he got to coming; his voice got higher in pitched, his tough attitude collapsed, and his hips started stuttering the way they typically did whenever he got super close. Axton did his best to hang on and take what Lawrence had to offer him, but his own facade broke when he could no longer stand it and snaked a hand under his shirt to bring himself right over the edge alongside his lover.

Axton’s eyes rolled into the back of his head as Lawrence filled his mouth. He swallowed what he could, groaning with his own pleasure, and continued to idly lick and suck at Lawrence’s cock until the man pulled it away.

Panting, Lawrence stumbled backwards and wiped a shaking hand across his sweat-dotted brow. “Wow,” he mumbled breathlessly. He looked down at Axton, glazed eyes on his crotch. “D’you need…?”

Axton dragged the back of his hand across his mouth, then lifted up the hem of his borrowed shirt, exposing the mess he’d made in his lap. “Lawrence tends to finish before Axton can get him on the bed and do the job himself,” he said, smirking.

Lawrence let out a little laugh. “I’m impressed,” he said, finally dropping the act. As soon as he slipped out of character, his face lit up with a bright blush that he instantly tried to smother with his hands. “Oh, god. I swear I didn’t intend for this to happen when I put the uniform on, I’m so sorry.”

“Nah, darlin’, don’t be. That was fuckin’ amazin’,” Axton said, shakily climbing to his feet. He ushered his lover over to the bed where they collapsed against each other, still breathless and shuddering from their wild session. Axton knew he’d have a sore throat in a few hours - he was already sounding hoarse - but damn, was it ever worth it.

A few minutes later Lawrence got up to change out of his borrowed clothes and fetch a damp washcloth from the bathroom across the hall to clean up his lover. In the meantime, Axton shucked off his soiled shirt, smirking down at it before chucking it into the hamper.

Lawrence returned and dragged the warm washcloth across Axton’s groin, careful not to put too much pressure on the still-sensitive areas. Axton let out a deep, pleased sigh under the careful cleanup care and stretched against the pillows.

“Why didn’t you bring this whole roleplaying reversal switch thing up to me sooner?” he asked through a yawn. “I would’ve been down for it.”

“I know,” Lawrence mumbled, tossing the washcloth aside and rolling over to curl against his lover. Axton could feel his cheek burning when he laid them against his neck. “I just…I dunno, thought it might be weird.”

“There’re weirder kinks out there, darlin’, trust me.”

Lawrence mumbled something into Axton’s chest, still too embarrassed to meet his eyes. Axton started stroking his hair as the telltale feeling of an oncoming nap began to settle over him.

“I won’t tell anyone about your lil’ roleplayin’ fetish,” he continued teasingly, shutting his eyes. “Though I’m sure Gaige would love to hear how I caught you struttin’ your stuff in front of the mirror in my uniform - ”

Lawrence sank his teeth into the juncture between Axton’s neck and shoulder, shutting him up good.


	6. 5. “Wait a minute. Are you jealous?” (mildly NSFW)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: 5. “Wait a minute. Are you jealous?” **Mildly NSFW.**

Lawrence’s first real holiday experience on Pandora was Luck of the Zafords week. He didn’t know who the Zafords were or why they had a whole week devoted to them, but he would take any excuse to drink himself stupid and make an ass out of himself along with the rest of the population of Sanctuary.

The interior of Moxxi’s bar had undergone some changes in preparation for the holiday. Green and gold streamers and other decorations now hung from the ceiling and walls. Some of the booths had been moved aside to make a dance floor of sorts. Moxxi had hired a few of the vault hunters to help steal some hardcore liquor from the Rotgut Distillery, so the bar was now stocked to the brim with the potent, life-threatening stuff. Lawrence could hardly wait to partake in all the holiday shenanigans with his friends.

The night before said shenanigans were scheduled to begin, Axton surfaced from a shower revealing that he’d shaved his entire chest, save for a little bit of happy trail below his navel. Lawrence’s brows shot high on his head when he noticed.

“Don’t get mad,” Axton said immediately, freezing in the doorway.

Lawrence stood up and made his way over to his lover, intrigued at the sight. “I’ve never seen you with a bare chest before,” he mused, reaching out to run his fingers along the scarred, yet mostly smooth flesh. He wasn’t sure if he liked it or not. “Is it for tomorrow? Should I shave, too?”

“Don’t get mad,” Axton said again. When Lawrence finally yanked his gaze away from Axton’s chest, he found the man grinning nervously up at him. “But, uh, I’ve kinda been chosen to be the body for the body shots at Moxxi’s tomorrow.”

Lawrence blinked. “Body shots?” he echoed. “Like, salt and lemons and all?”

“Limes. But yeah. It’s kinda like tradition. She puts everyone’s names in a jar and randomly pulls ‘em. You’re lookin’ at this year’s lucky winner.”

“I see.” He traced the path of one of the particularly nastier scars that stretched across Axton’s chest. “Who was it last year?”

“Earl.”

Lawrence couldn’t prevent the scrunched up, disgusted look from flashing across his face. “Oh. Ugh. Ew,” he muttered.

Axton chuckled. “Yeah, you can see why everyone’s super pumped to have me doin’ it this time.” He shifted a little, hands sliding into his pockets. “So, uh, you’re not mad?”

“Why should I be?”

“I dunno, body shots can get intimate.” Axton shrugged. “I won’t do it if you don’t want me to.”

That made Lawrence crack a smile. “I’m okay with it,” he said, making his boyfriend grin, too.

Fast forward to a day later when Luck of the Zafords week was in full swing, and Lawrence was beginning to regret that decision. He was more than a little drunk, his legs and hips hurt from the unexpected fast-paced moshing and grinding that he had partaken in on the dance floor, and he was pretty sure he was going deaf from how goddamned loud the music was in Moxxi’s place.

“I have regrets,” he muttered to Maya, who had finally managed to make her way off the dance floor to join him by one of the few available booths.

“What?” she yelled over the pounding music.

“I said I have regrets,” he yelled back. “About - that.”

He gestured to the bar where a good percentage of the crowd was gathered. Through the gaps Lawrence could see Axton, shirtless and lying on his back on the counter with someone leaning over him to do a body shot off of him. He’d been up there since the goddamned place opened for the evening and the tip jar had already been emptied twice.

Maya pursed her lips at the sight, then turned back to him. “At least you get a percentage of the tips, right?” she offered. “Don’t worry, I gave like, a hundred bucks after I did my shot. That’s…” She stopped, trying and failing to do math in her head. “That’s a lot.”

“Yeah, great, thanks,” he grumbled, glaring down at the table. He was probably the only one in this hemisphere who hadn’t done a shot off his own boyfriend.

“Wait a minute.” Maya squinted at him, then let out a very undignified snorting laugh. “Are - are you jealous, Lawrence?”

“No!” he yelled far too loudly. “I am not!”

“Not what?” Gaige asked as she tripped and swayed her way over to them. One of her pigtails had come undone and she’d lost her necklace somewhere in the mosh pit that was the dance floor.

“Nothing - ”

“Lawrence is jealous that everyone’s licking his boyfriend’s chest,” Maya told her. “Everyone but him.”

Gaige let out her own snort of laughter. “So go over there and claim your boy in front of everyone,” she suggested with a suggestive eyebrow wiggle that rivaled Axton’s. “Tha-a-at’ll show ‘em. It’ll show all of us. Hopefully. In great detail.”

That was a terrible idea, the microscopic sober portion of Lawrence’s mind was telling him frantically. He didn’t like PDAs. Besides, he couldn’t tell the commando what to do. He wasn’t about to be that kind of partner.

He would have been content to leave it at that and go make an ass out of himself on the dance floor some more, but then he made the mistake of looking over at his boyfriend one more time. A woman in a very short skirt was currently straddling him and leaning down to snag the lime wedge out of his stupid grinning mouth.

He was moving then, deaf to the excited cackling from his friends. He politely tapped the woman on the shoulder and flashed her a flat, irritated look. “Off,” he groused.

Thankfully she scurried off without a fight, revealing Axton in his half-naked, fluid-covered glory. He looked good like that, Lawrence’s brain offered, but he would look even better if most of the sheen on him hadn’t come from other people’s saliva.

God, he hoped it was just saliva.

“Howdy, partner,” Axton slurred, tipping an imaginary hat at him. He looked about as drunk as Lawrence felt. “You next in line to do a shot off’a these sick abs? Put five bucks or more in the tip jar and I’m all yours.”

Lawrence opened and closed his mouth several times before mentally deciding fuck it. Moxxi smirked at him from over the counter and dribbled more salt in a line on the middle of Axton’s belly, then placed a shot glass filled with a clear liquid between Axton’s pecs, balancing it perfectly.

“On the house,” she teased, winking. “Make sure you put on a good show for everyone, kiddos.”

Had he been sober, Lawrence might have been concerned with the fact that they had quickly become the center of attention in the club. He didn’t care then - all he wanted to do was kiss that dumb stupid grin off Axton’s face.

With a bit of difficulty, he climbed onto the counter and slowly sank down to straddle Axton’s hips. He could feel how hard Axton had gotten from all the attention and it both enraged and aroused Lawrence. He was the only one allowed to make the commando’s pants get tighter, dammit.

Wanting vengeance, he started gyrating his hips a little, trying to keep it in beat with the music pounding out of the speakers. The cocky smirk on Axton’s face slipped away and he very nearly dropped the wedge as he gasped and arched against Lawrence’s hips, unable to help himself in his drunken state.

“Gonna spill,” Lawrence told him, leaning forward to pin Axton’s shoulders down against the table.

Axton sent him a glare that plainly stated, “then get this show on the road.”

Lawrence smirked, then scooted down a bit so that he was straddling Axton’s thighs instead of his crotch. He bent over and began to lick at the lining of his pants instead of the line of salt that made a path up and around the commando’s belly button. Axton groaned and gripped the edges of the bar counter, trying desperately not to move as Lawrence continued to torture him with his tongue.

Eventually Lawrence starting making his way up, pausing to dip his tongue into Axton’s navel. The commando must have really liked that, because he was jerking hard enough to knock the shot glass on his chest over. Moxxi was there to snatch it before all of its contents could spill down Axton’s sternum.

She tsked. “Someone’s going to have to clean that up,” she said, giving Lawrence a pointed look with a smirk for punctuation. Next to her, someone stuffed a twenty dollar bill into the already overflowing tip jar.

Lawrence blinked at her, then down at the mess on Axton’s shuddering chest. The tiny trickles of alcohol were steadily drifting down Axton’s abs towards the line of salt, which by now had been smeared all over the place thanks to his wandering hands and Axton’s inability to sit still.

Well, only one thing to do about that.

Grinning, Lawrence leaned down again and began to lap at the man’s chest, making sure to cover every damn inch of it as he slowly made his way up. Axton groaned, beyond frustrated now and unable to even say anything thanks to the lime wedge in his mouth.

As soon as his tongue found Axton’s left nipple, the man gave a muffled cry and slammed his fists down on the counter, making several onlookers jump back in surprise. Lawrence didn’t let up, though - not until he was sure he’d licked every inch of that nipple clean. By the time he moved on to his other nipple, Axton was shaking like a leaf in a halestorm and sweating bullets.

Finally, Lawrence wrapped his lips around the shot glass and sat up, tilting his head back. The liquid burned the second it hit his tongue and it certainly didn’t feel any better going down, he realized, spitting out the glass. Any sexy drunken attitude he might’ve had vanished as he dragged a shaking hand over his mouth and coughed.

Axton seized him by the front of his shirt as he sat up. Lawrence could feel dozens of eyes on them now as Axton brought their mouths as close together as he could with the lime wedge still between his teeth. Lawrence opened his mouth to accept it and let out a relieved sigh as it soothed away the raw nastiness that was whatever he’d just taken a shot of.

As soon as he reached up to remove the wedge from his mouth, Axton was on him, taking his face between his hands and kissing him with a ferocity that almost instantly got all of Lawrence’s pistons firing. Any last bits of self restraint flew out the damned window when Axton moaned into his open mouth and tried to grind his hips up into Lawrence’s groin.

He jerked away from the commando and slid off the counter, almost falling over in the process. Ignorant to the cheers and wolf whistles erupting from the crowd, Lawrence dragged Axton into the back room of the establishment, slamming the door behind them.

“It’s okay to be jealous y’know,” Axton had the gall to tell him as Lawrence shoved him against the wall. “Makes a guy feel wanted.”

“I’m gonna make you feel somethin’ all right,” Lawrence muttered under his breath as he struggled to undo Axton’s pants. His stupid drunk fingers didn’t seem to want to work anymore.

Axton only giggled and leaned back against the wall. “Can’t,” he slurred. “Too much booze in me. Sorry, darlin’.”

Sure enough, as Lawrence yanked Axton’s pants down his hips, he was met with a very flaccid member of his anatomy. “You were hard out there,” he whined, giving the thing a few useless tugs. “C’mon, baby, don’t do this to me,” he pleaded with the limp dick, going as far as to try to kiss it back to life. No dice, though.

The commando couldn’t stop laughing. “I can still suck yours,” he pointed out, then wiggled his ass. “Or take it. My butt’s still operatin’ on full thrush…thrushters. Trusters.” He made a face. “Thrus-ters.”

Lawrence felt his face flushing from something other than booze as he glanced down at his own crotch. “I’m not…either…”

Axton’s giggles evolved into a sputtering, cackling laugh as he slid down the wall until his bare ass was planted on the questionably clean tiles of the floor. Lawrence heaved a tired sigh and collapsed as well, aiming for Axton’s lap. He kind of wound up sitting sideways in a drunken slump, but Axton drew him close anyway just as Lawrence’s vision began to swim with the telltale signs of sleep.

“You’re the best,” Axton mumbled into his hair. “Wanna make out?”

“Yes,” Lawrence said, then promptly passed out.

~

Moxxi found them in a mostly unconscious pile in the back room several hours later. Well, Axton could only assume it was a few hours later. The thumping music had stopped rattling the walls, at any rate.

Moxxi arched an eyebrow at them, bemused. “So I take it this means you’re done for the night.”

Axton hummed and let his head loll back against the wall behind him. “I can’t feel my legs,” he said, “so yeah.”

The businesswoman just chuckled, and it was only then that Axton realized she probably thought he was aching for reasons other than the fact Lawrence had been sitting passed out in his lap for hours. “Fair enough. You brought in more money than this bar has seen in a long time. Maybe I should consider hiring you full time, sugar,” she said, only half teasing.

At that, Lawrence snuggled closer to Axton, drawing his arms tight around him. “No,” he muttered, still mostly unconscious.

“You heard my man,” Axton said, grinning tiredly up at her. “Sorry, Mox. I think you’re gonna have to permanently take my name outta that body shot jar of yours.”


	7. 10. “Teach me how to play?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: 10. “Teach me how to play?”

Lawrence was lulled out of his trance by the faint sound of music. Inch by inch he came back to himself, following the tether he’d left to his body, until he was slowly opening his eyes.

It was a gorgeous morning, with bright, warm sunlight pouring in from the window a few feet from the bed Lawrence was currently curled up on. It had warmed the sheets; Lawrence stretched his limbs, seeking more of that warmth, and let out a pleased little noise at how damn perfect everything felt right then and there.

Eventually the music beckoned him out of the comfort of his bed. He followed the gentle sound of strings being plucked and found Axton sitting on the balcony, his old, battered guitar in hand. Lawrence lingered in the doorway, knowing that if he spoke up, the moment would be ruined.

“We’re all scared of trenches,” Axton sang quietly under his breath. “And grow weak at knees. I want you to know that.”

He wasn’t the best singer, but to Lawrence, his voice could calm the sea in a storm. Combine that with his skillful guitar strumming, and well, Lawrence was in heaven.

He shut his eyes and listened for a while as Axton continued to sing and play. Lawrence wasn’t familiar with the song and wondered if it was one Axton had actually made up. The man was more creative than he gave himself credit for, Lawrence knew, so it was very possible.

“Did I show you love? In the author of my face,” Axton sang. “‘Cos you know you left a hollow where your body cut an alcove.”

It was a sad song, Lawrence thought, even with the mildly upbeat guitar twanging Axton was creating. He wondered if Axton had ever really cut loose with his playing and singing, strumming out upbeat tunes and howling lyrics from the top of his lungs. He pictured him doing so with his fellow soldiers back in the day, carefree, probably drunk, and happy. The thought made Lawrence smile, too.

Eventually the song ended, but Axton continued to pluck at the strings in a slow tune, humming aimlessly along with it. Lawrence chose that moment to come out of hiding, trying to be loud about it so he didn’t startle his beau.

Axton’s fingers stilled for half a second when Lawrence sat down next to him, but he quickly resumed plucking along, trying to appear nonchalant.

“Morning,” Lawrence offered.

“Mornin’,” Axton replied back, cracking a smile that was as warm as the sun currently coating the balcony. “You slept in late.”

Lawrence hummed, stretching his arms above his head. “I was away,” was all he offered. He nodded at the guitar. “Haven’t seen that old thing in a while. Glad you still have it.”

“Course. Gotta keep myself busy somehow when I ain’t rollin’ around in bed with you or out doin’ bounties.”

Lawrence hummed, eyes on the instrument. It was worn and weathered, its body splintered in places - all signs that it was well-used by its owner. “Teach me how to play?” he asked, lifting his gaze.

Axton blinked at him, surprised. “You wanna learn? I mean, I’m cool with it,” he said quickly. “But it takes a lotta patience.”

“So how’d you wind up learning it, then?”

Axton huffed out a laugh and swayed into him, giving him a gentle bump. “Shaddup. Now it’s gonna cost you if you want me to teach you, ass.”

Lawrence waggled his eyebrows. “How much?”

“One smooch.” Axton tapped his lips with a finger. “Right here. And no refunds.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Lawrence said as he leaned over and left a chaste kiss on his lover’s mouth. He pulled back for half a second, then gave him another smooch, this one more obnoxious and wet. “There, I even left a tip. Now will you show me?”

Axton grinned and lifted the strap off his neck to pass the guitar over to him. Lawrence accepted it gingerly and slid the strap over his head, resting the instrument in his lap. He immediately gave the strings a light strum with his thumb, grinning at the noise it made. He’d never had the chance to learn how to play anything when he was younger. His parents couldn’t afford it.

“So how’re we going about this?” Lawrence asked as Axton sat down next to him.

The commando just shrugged. “I dunno. I never learned to read music. Just played by ear. So I guess just put your fingers where I tell you to and do what I say.”

“I’ve said that before,” Lawrence mumbled, earning a laugh out of Axton and another affectionate shoulder bump.

“Go to the E string, ass,” Axton said, pointing to the string in question.

Thus began Lawrence’s very first guitar lesson. It was almost beyond slow-going with Axton telling Lawrence where to put his fingers for every damn note. Knowing which fret to move to next was a bit of a challenge, but it was made slightly easier by the fact that Lawrence only needed to use the one string and pluck it at the right time. Axton was patient - and not that bad of a teacher to boot - so eventually Lawrence began to learn to play what he realized was Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

“You got it,” Axton told him as soon as he hit the last string. “See if you can do it all again.”

Lawrence did as he was told, starting the song over. He hit the first couple of notes all right, but when he went to move his fingers to the next fret, he froze, suddenly completely lost as he stared at the dozen or so frets lining the guitar’s neck. “Crap,” he muttered.

“It’s okay,” Axton told him, pointing to the right fret. “Keep goin’.”

Lawrence obeyed, trying to pick up where he left off. He made a few more mistakes and had to stop once or twice to find the right fret, but eventually he completed the song. He cracked a small grin at his victory as he met Axton’s gaze.

Axton was beaming at him. “Again,” he said.

Determined, Lawrence stuck his tongue out of the corner of his mouth in concentration as he plucked the string and rearranged his fingers on the guitar neck. It was still slow, the song jittery and jilted in places, but he managed to finish it again with only a few errors this time.

“Again,” Axton said, grinning wider.

This time, Lawrence was able to play the tune straight through almost flawlessly. He hit the last note and let out a victorious, “Hah! Eat your heart out, Burl Ives!”

Laughing, Axton took his face in his hands and leaned over to smooch him. “Proud of you, darlin’,” he said. “You’ll be a pro in no time.”

Lawrence grinned back at him, beyond giddy, and strummed out the song again, giggling the whole while. “This is fun,” he said, finishing up, “but I think I’m gonna stick with writing.”

“Fair enough,” Axton said, accepting the guitar as it was passed back to him. “Maybe someday I’ll try to write you a story.”

Lawrence laughed and bent until he was lying flat on his back, eyes shut against the bright sunlight. “Or you could just sing me a song,” he offered, knowing that was just as unlikely.

To his surprise, Axton leaned back until their heads brushed side by side on the concrete balcony. The angle was probably weird for him to play in, but lo and behold, he started to pluck at the strings, easily forming another melody that warmed Lawrence almost as much as the sun’s rays.

“I’ll drop and speak a charm,” he began quietly, voice almost lost to the steady strumming. “Take the weather from your heart and the weight from on your toes.”

Lawrence smiled and shut his eyes, listening to his lover croon out a song meant only for his ears.


	8. 11. “Don’t you dare throw that snowba-, goddammit!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: 11. “Don’t you dare throw that snowba-, goddammit!” This specifically takes place between Chapters 33 and 34 of Not Jack. I was actually kinda hoping someone would ask for this prompt ‘cos it allowed me to explore something I didn’t have the time for in the main story, something I brought up way back during Law’s first visit to Dr. Zed’s…

Sometime during the night, Sanctuary had drifted into Frozen Waste territory. Lawrence scarcely noticed; Axton was like his own personal furnace, so he was comfortable for the majority of the night, even with the window by the door wide open.

An hour or so after sunrise, Axton rolled out of bed with a grumble, taking his heat with him. Lawrence was instantly conscious and groaning childishly at the loss. Hauling the covers around himself, he cracked open his eyes and watched as Axton moved towards the window. A shock of white could be seen beyond it.

“Is it snowing?” he asked, rubbing the ball of his hand into his good eye in an effort to see better.

“Yeah,” Axton reported as he shut the window with more force than necessary. “Must be driftin’ farther east into the Wastes. Goddammit, I hate the cold.”

Lawrence loved it. Eden had pretty fierce winters when it wanted to. As a boy, he adored seeing the world wrapped in a white blanket as it slept - and not just because it got him out of going to school. It was peaceful. Soft. Quiet. Everything Pandora wasn’t.

“You know what this means?” Lawrence asked as his beau continued to fume and curse the bitter cold like a cantankerous old man.

“That I just got demoted from vault hunter to snow shoveler?” Axton snarked, turning to face him.

“Nope.”

Axton cocked a brow at him, and Lawrence flipped back the covers of their bed in invitation. The commando grinned, grumpiness forgotten, as he cannonballed back into Lawrence’s arms for another hour or so of steamy sex.

Around midday, Gaige came knocking, rosey-cheeked and bubbling with excitement over how much snow was falling. “Knocking” might have been too generous a statement; she hammered her metal fist against the door, then kicked it open with a cackling cry of, “Wakey, wakey!”

Axton, already halfway up to yell at her, saw what was about to happen, but his shrieking cry of “Don’t you dare throw that snowba - _goddammit_!” fell on deaf ears as she pelted the two of them with perfectly made orbs.

Needless to say, Axton denied her request to come out and have some fun, but Lawrence was all too eager to join her. He donned his thicker coat and borrowed Axton’s hat before he joined the mechromancer on the streets of Sanctuary for a real snowball fight.

He should have noticed the dull throbbing behind his eyes before it crippled him, but he was enjoying the weather far too much to really consider it. One massive snowball war, three snow-bandits and two snow-rakks later, Lawrence was stumbling through the front door of Axton’s empty hostel room, soaked and shivering and breathing through gritted teeth due to the pain jackhammering against his skull.

He’d hoped a hot shower would make him feel better, but no such luck. He went to bed early in an attempt to sleep off the headache, but Axton came home before then with some food from HQ that he devoured noisily across the room in between picking apart his rifle for cleaning. Lawrence knew the noises weren’t as loud as he was imagining them to be, but the pounding behind his eyes couldn’t tell the difference.

Lawrence curled deeper into the blankets and brought a pillow over his head to block out everything, but nothing was working to ward off the pain. At this point, he was pretty sure his head was going to split open.

Eventually Axton joined him in bed, but he had no intentions of sleeping just yet. He began to kiss a line down Lawrence’s back, but, for the first time since they got together, Lawrence groaned and wiggled away from the other man, muttering about a headache.

“Seriously? The ol’ ‘not tonight, honey, I have a headache’ excuse?” Axton asked, propping himself up with an elbow. All traces of amusement vanished from him when he noticed his lover’s current state. “Darlin’, you okay? You look awful.”

“Hurts,” Lawrence gasped, unable to open his eyes. It hurt if he opened them, it hurt if they were closed. He was starting to think that digging them out of his throbbing skull would be the wisest choice of action.

“What hurts? Law, look at me.”

But he couldn’t. The pain overwhelmed him, made him dizzy and unable to speak or move. He turned his face into the pillow and gripped the sheets beneath him, whimpering through gritted teeth.

~

Axton was so blinded by his fear that something was severely wrong with Lawrence that he didn’t think to hail Dr. Zed over his ECHO; he just threw a coat on over his bare shoulders and bolted down the street towards his clinic.

All he could think about was that the Watcher had done something to Lawrence when they hadn’t been looking. The thing hadn’t been around since the sleepwalking incident, but Axton knew the bastard was just buying its time. For all he knew, it poisoned Lawrence as punishment for not agreeing to come with it. He wasn’t sure if Zed could do anything if that was the case, but he wasn’t about to sit back and watch his lover suffer if there was something he could do to stop it.

“Doc!” yelled as he skidded through the front door of the clinic. Zed was in the process of cleaning some tools in the sink and sent him a wide-eyed look over his shoulder. “Somethin’s wrong with Law! You need to come see!”

By the time he’d managed to drag Dr. Zed out of bed and halfway across town back to his hostel room, he found that Lawrence hadn’t moved from his fetal position. His one hand was holding a pillow over his head to block out the light, and the other was tangled so fiercely in the blankets that they were threatening to tear.

Zed moved to his side and pried the pillow away from Lawrence’s head, much to the man’s irritation. His face was scrunched up with pain, his teeth clenched so hard that a tic had developed in his jaw. Worst of all, there was a steady stream of tears trickling from his good eye despite it being clenched shut.

Axton grimaced as the doctor forced Lawrence’s good eye open. A pained, wheezy wail was all Lawrence could choke out as he was assaulted by light - dim, just enough for Dr. Zed to see what he was doing, but still enough to send a new wave of agony rocketing through Lawrence’s skull, if his brief moment of thrashing was any indication.

“I warned him he might be in pain if it got cold ‘round here,” Zed snapped as he released his hold on Lawrence’s eyelid. “He should stay inside when it’s like this. Warm up a sock filled with rice, put it on his head, wait it out.”

Axton stared at him in disbelief. “That’s it? There’s nothin’ you can do for him? How much do I need to fork over for the hardcore pain meds you’re hoarding? And don’t try to deny it, Zed - I’ve seen ‘em myself.”

The doctor grumbled. “Try aspirin first,” he said. “If the pain’s bad enough, it’s likely he won’t be able to keep anythin’ down long enough to digest it.”

Axton hoped that wouldn’t be the case. He left Lawrence’s side only once more that night to see Moxxi about some food for Lawrence to take with the aspirin he had stocked in his medicine cabinet. When the woman heard of Lawrence’s plight, she wasted little time in whipping up the kind of grub she’d give her kids whenever they came down with a bug.

“The taste is less than stellar,” she warned as she handed Axton a container of the steaming liquid, “but it always worked like a charm. Maybe loverboy will be able to choke some of it down.”

“Only one way to find out.”

He hustled back to the hostel and entered the room as quietly as he could. With the lights off, the chances of him stubbing his toe on something was extremely high, but he did his best to creep to the bed and keep the cussing to a minimum.

“Can you drink this for me, darlin’?” he asked his incapacitated lover. “It’s just soup. Moxxi made it just for you.”

Lawrence didn’t reply beyond a small, wheezing groan. He opened his mouth anyway when Axton gently pressed the edge of the spoon against his dry lips. The soup went down easy, as did the crushed-up pain pills Axton mixed in. Now it was just a matter of waiting and hoping he was able to keep both things down.

Ten minutes later Lawrence was upchucking everything he’d consumed. Luckily Axton had seen the signs and was able to snag the wastebasket before Lawrence vomited onto the floor. He held the bucket for the other man as he hurled. The retching only further aggravated his head, actually wrenching a scream out of him that made Axton briefly panic and reach out with his free hand to tenderly rub the back of his neck.

“Don’t,” Lawrence gasped, jerking.

Axton let his hand fall away.

Gaige kicked in the door the next morning, fully expecting to find her friends mid or post-coital like usual, only to instead find a sleep-deprived commando standing vigil over his pain-ridden boyfriend. Axton was on her almost instantly, hauling her outside so that their voices didn’t further disturb Lawrence.

“He’s got one hell of a migraine,” he explained. “Light and noise cripple him. He can’t keep anything down long enough for pain pills to work.”

“So what can we do?” Gaige asked, gaunt with concern. “Did you talk to Lilith? Can we change Sanctuary’s path back to warmer areas?”

Axton couldn’t keep the scowl off his face. “She said she’d ask Scooter to do somethin’, but he ain’t even in Sanctuary right now,” he snapped. “Who knows when he’ll be back.”

The mechromancer frowned and folded her arms across her chest in a huff. “She could’ve asked me to do it,” she groused. “Just for that lack of faith, I’m gonna break into Scooter’s shop and steer the goddamned city into the Dust.”

“Please do,” Axton said. He hadn’t meant to sound as desperate as he did, but Gaige didn’t judge him for it. She gave his arm a squeeze, winked, and disappeared down the street.

About an hour later, Axton felt the city’s engines rumble beneath his feet, and knew his best friend had made good on her word.

By nightfall, most of the town knew about Lawrence’s agony. Most folk stayed away, thankfully, but later that night, Maya approached Axton’s hostel room with far more care than Gaige had. She had Deathtrap with her, which Axton quickly learned was because she wanted him to come have a drink with her at Moxxi’s.

“I shouldn’t leave him alone,” Axton muttered, shooting a glance over his shoulder into the dark room where Lawrence lay quietly weeping in pain. He’d been crying for the past half hour, though Axton suspected it was involuntary.

“Deathtrap volunteered to watch him in your stead,” Maya said, gesturing gratefully towards the robot, who beeped quietly in agreement. “Come on, Axton. Hovering over him like this won’t make him heal any faster.”

Hesitantly, Axton agreed. He watched as Deathtrap quietly hovered past him into the room and tentatively reached out with his less-deadly claw to touch Lawrence’s outstretched hand. Lawrence hissed through his teeth, and for a moment Axton debated on throwing himself back into the room, but then Lawrence wrapped his fingers around Deathtrap’s claw and held on, gripping the metal so hard that his knuckles turned and even lighter shade of purple.

Deathtrap turned his eyeball-face at Axton, silently telling him to go. He did so reluctantly, following Maya down the street towards the bar.

Three beers later, Axton cracked. He knew that had been the whole reason for Maya dragging him out, so he didn’t bother trying to swallow his pain beneath manly masks and excuses.

“I keep fuckin’ up,” he whispered. “I keep puttin’ myself first and windin’ up alone. I’m a fuckin’ idiot.”

“I won’t argue with that last bit,” Maya said, rolling her eyes, “but Lawrence isn’t going to leave you because you can’t cure his headache. You’re being ridiculous.”

Axton scowled. “I haven’t been able to do anything for him,” he snarled, slamming his glass down onto the table. “Not now, not before. I’m fuckin’ useless.”

The siren’s brow furrowed. “What do you mean, before? You’re not still hung up on that incident in the Dust, are you? You know Lawrence never blamed you for that - ”

“That doesn’t mean I don’t blame myself! I couldn’t jump the cars, I couldn’t pull the needle out of his brain when he was beggin’ me to,” he babbled. “Begging me to, Maya! And I couldn’t stop the Watcher from almost nabbin’ him the other night, either. Add that to the growin’ list of shit I let Law down on.”

The siren looked ready to dismiss him again, but her frown vanished when she heard the last bit of his ranting. “Wait, what happened the other night?”

Axton explained the situation and watched as Maya grew more and more concerned. She said nothing afterwards, just knocked back the rest of her drink in one go. Axton echoed the motion.

When he finally dragged himself back to his place, he found Lawrence in the exact same position he left him in - curled on his side and gripping Deathtrap’s claw like a lifeline. The sock filled with rice had gone cold, so he heated it back up before putting it back against Lawrence’s forehead, propping it there with Lawrence’s own hand. The man gave a relieved sigh as the hot pack worked its magic on his aching flesh and bone. Axton hated that there was literally nothing else he could do for him.

After thanking Deathtrap and dismissing him, Axton pulled up a chair as quietly as he could, and for the rest of the night, he remained by Lawrence’s side.

~

Lawrence cracked open his good eye and breathed a sigh of relief when he wasn’t immediately met with stabbing pain in his head. There was still an uncomfortable throbbing in his skull that kept him from moving, but at least he could blink and move his eye around again.

The first thing he noticed was that Axton was sitting right in front of him, out cold on the metal chair that belonged by the table. He was sitting backwards on it with his head leaning against the arm he had folded across the back of the chair. It looked horribly uncomfortable; he was bound to wake up with some back pain from sleeping in a slouched position all night.

Axton’s other arm was extended towards the bed. Lawrence glanced down and noticed for the first time that Axton’s hand was wrapped around his, even in his sleep.

A light blush dusted Lawrence’s cheeks. He wasn’t sure how long he’d been trapped in a world of hurt, but the thought that Axton had been at his side the entire time made his heart swell with affection.

He drifted in and out of consciousness for a while until Axton shifted and gave his hand a squeeze. Lawrence opened his eye to find the commando staring blearily at him, his gaze still unfocused with sleep.

“Morning, babe,” Lawrence rasped. He sounded like he’d been gargling shards of glass.

Axton jerked and fell backwards off the chair with a yelp. He paid his own pain no heed as he scrambled on his knees to Lawrence’s side. “How - ” He cut himself off with a grimace, then started again, quieter: “How’re you feelin’, darlin’?”

“Better than before,” Lawrence answered quietly, lifting his arm. Axton got the message and snagged his hand, giving it a squeeze that brought a small smile to Lawrence’s face. “Still hurts, but I can see again.”

“Good.” Axton’s shoulders sagged as he shut his eyes and dropped his head onto the mattress a few inches from Lawrence. “’M glad.”

Lawrence reached up with his free hand and gently ran his fingers through Axton’s hair. Something told him this wasn’t just exhaustion the commando was feeling. “What about you?” he asked.

“What ‘bout me?”

“How are you doing?”

Axton grunted dismissively. “Don’t matter. You’re good, I’m good.”

Lawrence frowned. Of course it mattered. He didn’t feel like arguing, though, so he let it drop. Eventually, he pulled Axton into bed with him, and they dozed off again, clinging to each other like the world depended on it.

Later on, Axton offered him some putrid-tasting soup and a couple of pain pills that made sitting up and socializing much easier. By late afternoon, Lawrence wagered he was about eighty percent back to normal. He could stand having the lights on and could hold conversations with Axton without wincing too much in pain.

Axton spent most of the day not saying much. When he wasn’t fussing over Lawrence, he was sitting by himself either fiddling with his ECHO device or disassembling and reassembling his weaponry. His expression remained tight the whole while, his brow furrowed with what looked like irritation.

“You okay?” Lawrence asked him for a second time that day.

“Yeah,” Axton responded automatically without looking at him.

Lawrence bit his lip and stared down at his lap. “I’m sorry.”

That got the commando’s attention. He shot him a quick, burning look of confusion. “For what? Don’t - don’t you dare tell me you’re sorry for gettin’ sick.”

“I forgot about Dr. Zed’s warning about the cold and my scars - ”

“Stop. No. Okay, this is not your fault,” Axton told him, setting aside his ECHO to come sit on the edge of the bed with Lawrence. “You got sick, that’s all. Shit happens. Now we know to stay away from the Frozen Wastes.”

Lawrence frowned. “It’s not your fault either, but you’re acting like it is,” he pointed out.

Axton scowled, though Lawrence could tell it was more at himself. “I’m just sick of not bein’ able to help you when you need it most,” he admitted quietly, bitterly. “I know this wasn’t somethin’ I could fix. I guess it was just the straw that broke the skag’s back.”

“Ax, just you being here - it…” Lawrence swallowed the lump in his throat. “You’ve helped me in ways I can’t describe. Even before we were together - you just being my friend, being there for me when I was having major issues…” He sniffed and dragged his arm across his nose. “You don’t give yourself enough credit.”

The commando’s face turned pink, as did the tips of his ears, but the angry expression stayed firmly on his face. It hurt to see him hating on himself so hard.

“You want to help me out right now?” Lawrence asked him.

Axton scooted up closer so that he could lie next to him on the bed. “I’ll do anythin’, darlin’,” he mumbled, pushing Lawrence’s hair off his sweaty brow.

“Sing to me,” he whispered.

Axton’s face turned pink again. “Won’t I hurt your head?” he joked through a weak, quiet laugh.

Lawrence huffed and rolled over, flinging his arm over Axton’s middle, trapping him. “I promise I won’t tell anyone you actually have a halfway decent singing voice,” he swore through a yawn. “Please?”

The commando grumbled and said nothing for a long while. Lawrence dozed, lulled into a peaceful state by Axton’s mere presence, when he abruptly realized that the other man was humming softly, so softly that Lawrence could feel it rumbling in the man’s chest rather than actually hear it. Eventually Axton raised his voice, forming words.

Lawrence smiled into Axton’s side and snuggled up close to him, drifting off to the sound of his voice.


	9. 15. “So, I found this waterfall…” (mildly NSFW)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: 15. “So, I found this waterfall…” **Mildly NSFW.**

“So I found this waterfall…”

Lawrence wrinkled his nose at his lover from over his ECHO device. “If that’s supposed to be a pickup line, I’m very unimpressed,” he muttered.

“Nah, I’m serious,” Axton said, flopping down on the couch. He plunked his dumb legs on Lawrence’s lap, practically knocking the ECHO device out of his hands. “Maya and I were out doin’ errands for Dr. Zed and found this place in the Highlands. She’s rustlin’ up the others, and I told her I’d see if you wanna join us.”

“You can’t fool me,” Lawrence said, trying to continue writing. “You’re just trying to tick one more thing off of your sex bucket list. What is it this time - public sex? Sex in a vehicle or underwater?”

Axton snorted and had the gall to look insulted. “Maybe I just wanted to invite your ass out on a picnic with our friends,” he said, sounding every bit like a whiny teenager. He rose to his feet, hands up in mock surrender. “Fine, never mind. Sorry to disturb you, your highness - ”

Lawrence smacked him on the ass with a pillow as he started walking away. “What time are we leaving?”

The commando hummed and glanced out the window. It was nearing midday, judging by how bright it was outside. “Should’ve been on the road an hour ago,” he reported.

“Axton, you ass!” Lawrence yelled, tossing the ECHO device aside and jumping to his feet. “Get a damn car ready and I’ll meet you down there.”

Axton grinned at him and saluted. “Yessir.”

~

They arrived only twenty minutes late thanks to Lawrence’s awesome driving skills and the fact that Sanctuary was already very close to their destination. As irritated as Lawrence had been with his lover for making them late, his entire attitude did a flip when he pulled up alongside the rest of the runners and found Maya, Krieg, and Gaige clustered around what had to be one of the most beautiful places Lawrence had seen on Pandora so far.

As promised, there was a waterfall, which was situated beneath a massive, towering cliff swathed in greens and pinpricks of white and orange from the wildflowers that were native to the area. Though the waterfall itself was lacking in terms of actual water output, it still managed to fill up the huge, deep pond at its base. As Lawrence approached, he realized the pool was so deep he couldn’t see the bottom of it, even with the crystal clear waters.

“Took you two long enough!” Gaige teased from her spot atop a cluster of boulders. There was a crown of flowers sat lopsided on her head.

“Had to do a little sweet talkin’ to convince Lawrence to come with,” Axton told them, winking. “With my mouth.”

“Um, _ew_ ,” Gaige groused, making a face. “TMI, broseph.”

“What? I just had to open it wide enough to - ”

Lawrence shoved him hard enough to send him stumbling almost into the glistening waters of the pool the waterfall had made. “He means he _verbally_ asked me if I wanted to come hang out at this cool waterfall,” he explained hastily, feeling his cheeks turning red.

“Welcome,” Maya said as she approached them. In her hands was another flower crown that put it on Lawrence’s head before he could even return her hello. “You can only party with us if you’re wearing one of these. Sorry, I don’t make the rules.”

“Are you drunk?” Lawrence asked, reaching up to gingerly poke at the crown.

Maya hummed, nodding slowly so as not to knock her own crown askew, then swayed away to start making a flower crown for Axton to wear, complaints about manliness be damned.

“Now that these two goobers are here, can we jump in?” Gaige demanded, leaping to her feet. She had stripped down to her skirt and a tank top in lieu of her usual attire. “C’mon, it’s been, like, an hour!”

“Don’t mess up your crown,” Maya slurred, shooting the younger girl a glare, but her warning fell on deaf ears as Gaige jumped off the boulder with a joyous shout, crown and all. She disappeared beneath the waters with a far bigger splash than Lawrence had expected her skinny little teen frame to make, and for a moment the only sign of her was her ruined crown floating on the rippling surface of the pond.

A second later Gaige resurfaced, cackling and rubbing her loose hair out of her eyes. “C’mon in, it’s great!”

Krieg took that as his okay to take off in a sprint for the clear waters, yelling nonsensically about blood waters and sausage. At least he’d had the sense to leave his crown with Maya, Lawrence noted as the behemoth made a splash big enough to drench everything within a ten foot vicinity of the pool.

Axton began to shuck off his shirt, eager to join his friends, and Lawrence nearly echoed the motion when he froze, remembering quite suddenly his body. Just because he’d gotten over his body issues enough to have sex with Axton didn’t mean he was ready to start flaunting it in front of a crowd.

Seemingly realizing this, Axton squeezed his elbow and offered him a gentle smile. “It’s just us,” he pointed out. “There’s a t-shirt in the car you can use if you want, though.”

He flashed Axton a relieved smile, then went to fetch the shirt. One step at a time, he told himself as he quickly put it on.

Once comfortable, he made his way up to the top of the stack of boulders Gaige had been perched on. Axton was already in the water with his friends, splashing and horsing around, and Lawrence was all too eager to join him.

He lept into the depths between Gaige and Krieg, sinking rapidly into the dark waters of the pool. Not only was it was as deep as it looked, it felt just as great, much to Lawrence’s glee. He kicked back to the surface and let out a laugh as soon as he had his breath back.

That didn’t last long; Gaige swam up behind him and dunked him back under, holding him there for three seconds until he got the jump on her and wrestled her under the surface. Axton joined in the fight, until the three of them were hurling armfuls of water at each other and gasping for breath between their choked laughter. Then Krieg cannonballed between them from an even higher position, bringing a whole new level to the fight.

“That’s cheating!” Gaige squealed as Krieg effortlessly lifted her over his head and chucked her into the pool a few feet away.

“You’ve made the blue goddess weep for the last time!” Krieg declared, thumping his fists on his chest like he’d just won some massive battle.

Behind him on the shore, Maya sat with her legs dangling in the pond, a bottle of booze in one hand and a book in the other. She glanced up from behind her sunglasses at Krieg’s outburst, only to smirk and raise her beer. “You tell ‘em, buddy,” she said, wrenching a victorious roar from her companion.

Gaige surfaced, sputtering and cursing until Axton told her to mind her language. Then she was back on the warpath, targeting both males for a throwdown.

Needing a breather, Lawrence left them to it and swam towards the waterfall, wondering if there was anything behind it. Sure enough, as he ducked beneath the spritzing curtain, his feet brushed up on solid ground. There was a semi-dry alcove behind the waterfall, just like in the damn movies.

There wasn’t any loot stashed behind the curtain, but that was okay. He hauled himself out of the pool and struggled to find a semi-comfortable way to sit on the rocky floor of the alcove. Easier said than done.

His peace lasted maybe a minute and a half before someone crashed through the waterfall in search of him. Of course it would be Axton, who grinned like a shark when he saw where Lawrence had made off to.

“Oh good,” the commando said, waggling his eyebrows as he hauled himself into the alcove. “Now I don’t have to try to ravish you in the back of the runner while everyone drinks themselves stupid.”

Lawrence rolled his eyes, but didn’t try to stop the commando when he straddled him and began to kiss him with all the enthusiasm of a man who hasn’t had sex in twelve hours. As they made out, Axton slid his hands underneath Lawrence’s soaking wet t-shirt. His hands were cold and damp and made Lawrence shiver for more than one reason, especially when they headed south towards the band of his swim trunks.

He glanced past the man’s shoulders and grimaced when he realized that their friends could probably see what they were doing through the thin curtain of the waterfall, or at least make an educated guess. Heaven knows that Gaige had walked in on them enough times to recognize what the outline of their murky forms likely entailed.

Lawrence huffed against Axton’s throat and shut his eyes as Axton’s hands found their intended destination. “Which one’s this?” he grumbled, sucking in a breath through his teeth.

“Number sixteen,” Axton answered immediately, the bastard. “Doin’ it in public. It was either this or at Moxxi’s durin’ Luck of the Zafords week.”

The image of Axton touching him from beneath one of the booths in the bar where anyone could see them if they looked hard enough made Lawrence’s hips stutter. Shit, that better not have awakened anything in him, he found himself thinking even as he grew harder from the very idea of fucking in front of oblivious people.

“Sal’s here with more booze,” Maya said, suddenly there a few feet from them as they rutted like animals in a goddamned cave.

Both men froze and met the siren’s half-lidded gaze head-on, frozen in fear of what she might say or do to them for being so gross mere feet from her and the others.

Maya blinked slowly at them. Lawrence wondered how much she’d had to drink so far. Hopefully enough to forget she’d ever seen this.

“Oh,” she said finally. “Sorry. I’ll come back when you’re not doing the sex thing.” She ducked under the waterfall before Lawrence could even utter an apology. “They’re busy with the sex thing,” she yelled to the others, earning a shriek from Gaige and a bunch of obnoxious cheering and hoots from the others.

Lawrence slapped his hands over his face, burning from pure, unadulterated embarrassment. “I hate you,” he groaned, “almost as much as I hate that goddamned bucket list.”

Grinning, Axton smooched him on the ear. “I know.”


	10. 18. “This is without a doubt the stupidest plan you’ve ever had. Of course I’m in.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: 18. “This is without a doubt the stupidest plan you’ve ever had. Of course I’m in.” If I had included this in Not Jack, it would have taken place during Chapter 22 when Lawrence was just starting to get friendly with the Sanctuary crew. Lots of Game of Thrones references (spoilers?), booze, and nail polish.

Lawrence hesitantly poked his head around the corner and found Lilith exactly where he thought he would: sitting at one of the many consoles staring unblinkingly at the screen. Lawrence didn’t understand what half the stuff on the hologram meant, but he wasn’t there to join the woman in her intense research or whatever.

“Lilith?” he asked quietly as he rapped his knuckles on the door frame.

The siren made a noncommittal grunt and waved him in without turning to even see who was there.

Lawrence made his way over to her and eyed the screen. “Anything, er, important happening?” he chanced asking.

“No,” Lilith said, slouching back in her chair. Her frown deepened. “Hyperion’s keeping to themselves for now, it seems.” She blinked, then looked up at him. “Did you need something?”

He cleared his throat and swayed awkwardly back and forth on his feet as he stuttered out, “Uh, well, Maya said you were a fan of the Play of Chairs ECHO show series.”

For a split second, Lilith’s eyes widened with surprise and a mixture of excitement, but she forced it all back down as she said professionally, “Yes, I’ve watched it. I think the books are better, though.”

“Me too!” Lawrence blurted, but quickly reigned himself in. “Ah, a-anyway, she and I are behind on a few episodes, so we had this idea - well, really, it was Maya’s idea - to marathon a few seasons tonight. Brick and Tina are already in. Do you wanna come?”

She blinked at him for a minute, her expression unreadable. “I probably shouldn’t,” she eventually said, turning away.

“The world won’t end if you stop watching your computers for one night, Lilith.”

“I mean, it might.”

Lawrence shifted again. “Y-yeah, maybe. I guess. The offer still stands, though.”

Lilith hummed and was quiet for another long minute. She tapped her nails on the console in front of her in a staccato rhythm that matched Lawrence’s nervous heartbeat.

“It is a good series,” she eventually said - quietly, like she was trying to convince herself it would be okay to do something other than work for one night. “And I wouldn’t mind re-watching the earlier seasons.”

“Is that a yes?” Lawrence asked, flashing her a hesitant smile.

Lilith’s red lips twisted as she failed to suppress her own smile. “Yeah, all right, screw it,” she said, standing up and stretching. “A couple of hours off hopefully won’t kill us all. Am I supposed to bring anything for this ladies night?”

“Just yourself,” he said. “And booze, if you want any.”

“With this series? Ch’yeah, I do.” Lilith was already rummaging around under the bed she’d claimed by the safe. “Take some cash out of the safe over there. Go make a beer run for us at Moxxi’s, and I’ll meet you at Maya’s.”

Lawrence felt his heart fall into his stomach at the thought of approaching Moxxi’s bar. “Um, I…I haven’t…is there anywhere else I can get beer from? Like, a vendor or something?”

Lilith looked ready to snap at him for being annoying, but stopped and cocked a brow at him from over her shoulder. “Oh, right,” she mumbled, turning away again to pull a small bag out from under the bed. “You and Moxxi had a thing. Or, I guess, you had a thing for Moxxi.”

“Yeah,” Lawrence muttered, frowning down at his boots. “A long time ago.”

“And you haven’t gone to see her since you woke up? Man, I know some dudes like to keep girls waiting, but jeez, Law.”

Lawrence felt his face turning an even deeper shade of red. “Th-that’s not…! It was just a dumb crush, okay? Why would…” He shook his head. “It doesn’t matter anymore anyway.”

“If it doesn’t matter anymore, why don’t you go on a beer run?” Lilith challenged.

Lawrence glowered down at the floor, fully regretting his decision to invite the siren along, when she gave him a gentle punch on the shoulder and cocked her head towards one of the other beds.

“Mordecai’s got a stash,” she said, winking. “He needs to cut back anyway.”

A small smile gradually returned to his face as he gratefully went to help her load up on the good stuff.

~

Brick and Tina were already situated in Maya’s house by the time Lawrence and Lilith rolled up with armfuls of genuine rakk ale. The couch had been moved in front of the side of the bed, and across from all of that was an old, barely functioning television that Maya had rigged up with an ECHO device.

“T-Law, my boy!” Tina exclaimed, waving at him from her seat on the bed. “Did you bring the booze, son?”

“Yes,” Lawrence said, chuckling, “but I don’t think you’re allowed to have any.”

“Tina does what Tina wants,” was the girl’s snobbish reply as she stuck her nose in the air.

“Is that from Mordecai’s stash?” Brick asked, eyeing the bottles. “He’s gonna be pissed! He’d been savin’ that shit for a while now.”

“Saving it for us,” Lilith said, sniffing. “You shouldn’t encourage his drinking, Brick. It’s out of hand and you know it.”

Tina cleared her throat rather loudly. “Did we gather here today to pick apart people’s questionably bad habits, or watch some deliciously gory TV? Maya, hurry your fine ass up!”

The other siren sent the girl a sweltering glare, but did as she asked nonetheless. As the first episode of season two of A Play of Chairs started up, the crew settled in, with Brick, Tina, and Lawrence crammed onto Maya’s bed and the two sirens taking up residence on the couch placed in front of it.

Lawrence was a little stiff on his perch - he wasn’t used to anyone’s company other than Maya’s, really - but as the familiar tune of one of his favorite shows began to fill the room, he allowed himself to unwind. It was almost like he was back in his dumpy college dorm watching the series for the first time again, he mused, trying to cling to that sensation.

“Yo, T-Law, pick a color,” Tina barked suddenly, shoving Lilith’s bag of goodies at him. A quick look inside revealed about thirty little bottles of nailpolish. “And don’t try to tell me you ain’t the nail-painting type’a guy, son, I can read you like a book.”

Lawrence cracked a grin as he began to rifle through the bag. “I dunno if that’s a hundred percent true,” he said, “but with five little sisters, I kinda had to be an expert on painting nails and throwing tea parties.”

“Called it!” Tina exclaimed, holding out her hand to Brick. “Pay up, sucka!”

The berserker grumbled under his breath but passed the girl a wad of money nonetheless.

Lawrence settled with a bottle of green sparkly polish that, according to Lilith, went well with the purple stains on his hands. Maya fished out another bottle, this one filled with a pretty shade of blue that was almost the same shade as her hair, that she began to dot Lawrence’s toes with. Lawrence tried not to preen too hard under all the attention.

“Who’s gonna do me?” Brick demanded, sounding hurt. “My nails’re lookin’ sad as shit right now.”

Lilith rolled her eyes at her companion. “How could we ever forget about you?” she teased, handing the bag over. “Try to pick something other than - ”

“Black!” Brick exclaimed, shoving a bottle into her hands.

“You pick black every time, Brick!” Lilith yelled. “Why not a bright color, like yellow or - ooh, this shade of orange would look great with the rest of your outfit - ”

“‘Cos black stands out the best when my fists are covered in blood.”

Lawrence shot the man a wary, wide-eyed look before turning his attention back to the episode. He really shouldn’t be surprised anymore.

~

“Where the hell is everybody?” Gaige snapped.

Axton briefly glanced up at her from his workbench. “The hell should I know?” he asked, turning back to the parts of his rifle he had strewn over the table. A bit of splash damage from a caustic grenade had melted some of the parts, making them damn near useless. Needless to say, Axton was in a foul mood because of it. The last thing he wanted to do was buy a brand new rifle to replace the one he’d just bought four days ago, but that was how it was looking at the moment.

“Lilith and Brick are gone,” Gaige began to list, “and so is Lawrence.”

At the other man’s name, Axton tensed up. “You think they went somewhere with him?” he asked, rising to his feet, rifle forgotten for the time being. “I mean, Lilith said he’s not allowed off Sanctuary yet.”

Gaige nodded, her pigtails bobbing. “Yeah, I know.” She bit her lip, hesitant. “You know, I wasn’t, like, paranoid or anything about everyone being gone until now.”

Axton was already moving towards the steps, rifle forgotten. “Let’s go find some answers before we all lose our damn minds.”

~

“Screw you, Jeffrey, you piece of shit,” Lawrence wailed into his hands. He could handle people getting decapitated left and right in this stupid show, but animals dying? Why? “Making Sean do that to Duchess…!”

“I wanna print out a picture of Jeffrey,” Brick began, voice just as wet as Lawrence’s, “and take a massive dump on it.”

While half the room scowled in disgust, Tina offered a helpful suggestion: “Why don’t you just eat the picture? Then Jeffrey will _become_ your shit.”

“Christ, Tina!” Lilith snapped, turning halfway around to glare at the young girl.

Tina was cackling now and kicking her legs against the back of the sofa, jostling its current occupants. “Brick’s gonna eat Jeffrey, then shit Jeffrey onto Jeffrey,” she said. “Bwom! Shit inception!”

“Sounds like a good plan to me,” Brick agreed, sniffing. “Can I borrow your printer, Maya?”

“Pardon my Truxican, but fuck no,” the woman replied, wrinkling her nose up at the very thought.

Lilith rolled her eyes at the two grown men currently blubbering over a fake direwolf. “It’s just a show, you guys, c’mon,” she groused, flicking some popcorn at them.

“That doesn’t make it any less sad!” Lawrence cried. “I would never kill off an animal in my stories! People - yes, sure, fine, whatever - but animals? They’re too innocent to die!”

“I knew there was a reason I liked you,” Brick said, offering Lawrence a grin and a massive fist to pound. “Puppies for life.”

Lawrence dragged his free hand across his cheeks and smiled as he tapped his knuckles against the berserker’s. “Kitties, too.”

~

“They’re all at Maya’s,” Mordecai said, yanking his knife out of the dartboard hung near one of the monitors in the meeting room. “Somethin’ about a ladies night.”

Gaige hissed like an angry cat. “What? _I’m_ a lady! Why didn’t they invite me?”

“I think they also mentioned that dumb show of theirs - the one about thrones and games or whatever. They were gonna marathon it.”

“A Play of Chairs?” Gaige’s anger instantly shifted into annoyance. “Never mind, then. Glad to know we got worried for nothing.”

Axton grunted in agreement.

They headed back downstairs into the workshop, grumbling among themselves, and settled in for what was probably going to be a boring, lame night.

“You know what we should do?” Axton said eventually, flicking one of the ruined pieces of his gun off the table.

Gaige picked her head up. She had kicked her feet up onto the workbench between them and yanked her cap down over her eyes in a less-than-serious attempt to nap. “What should we do, Ax?” she intoned.

“Crash their party.” He was bored, his gun was busted as shit, and they had nothing else to do for the rest of the goddamned night. Why not?

“You wanna crash a party at a siren’s house where another siren, a berserker, and a thirteen-year-old girl with a penchant for throwing dynamite are all hanging out?”

“Yeah.”

“This is without a doubt the stupidest plan you’ve ever had.”

Axton cracked a toothy smirk. “So you’re in?”

Gaige flicked her hat up, revealing her own impish, evil grin. “Of course I’m in.”

~

“Is the Mauve Wedding at the end of this season or the beginning of the next?” Maya asked as she fiddled with the remote. She smacked it, and when she clicked play, the show started up again.

“End,” Lilith answered. “One more episode to go.”

“What’s the Mauve Wedding?” Lawrence asked around a mouthful of popcorn. All the butter and salt in the world couldn’t keep his once-favorite treat from tasting like ass, but he was determined to eat it nonetheless.

The room’s other occupants exchanged pensive looks with one another. “You said you only read up to book two, right?” Maya asked. She shook her head and sighed. “Oh, you’re in for a treat tonight, my friend.”

“What? Why? _What_?”

“Just shut up and watch,” Brick said, grinning. “You’ll know soon enough.”

Lawrence took another deep swig from his bottle of ale and braced himself for the worst.

~

“You still haven’t told me how we’re supposed to do this,” Gaige hissed to her companion as they made their way down the darkened streets of Sanctuary towards Maya’s tiny bungalow.

“We roll up, drink all their beer and eat all their snacks, and roll out,” Axton said, shrugging. “I’d suggest a panty raid, too, but I don’t wanna die tonight, thanks.”

Gaige stopped walking and sent her friend a squinty-eyed look of disbelief. “Seriously? That’s your plan? I thought we were gonna legit crash this party! Like, lower ourselves down from the ceiling on ropes or something cool!”

“Clearly you’ve never crashed a party before,” Axton snarked, rolling his eyes. “It’s not as excitin’ as you’re thinkin’.”

“Then why are we even out here?” Gaige stopped walking and folded her arms across her chest, huffing. “Why don’t we, I dunno, throw our own bash? Invite Mordecai and Sal and Zero and show these ladies that they’re not the only ones who can throw a bitchin’ party?”

“Language,” Axton said.

Before Gaige could snap at him to shut the hell up, the sound of Lawrence’s muffled screaming erupted from inside Maya’s house. They jerked back, confused and alarmed, only to charge through the front door in damn near unison, expecting the worst.

“Law!” Axton yelled, immediately spotting the dude sitting curled up on the floor in front of an old TV, his hands over his head and his back shuddering with his sobs.

Lawrence jerked his head up at the sound of his name, revealing wild, wet eyes and a runny nose. His expression crumbled with another round of tears, but before Axton could question just what the hell was happening, he had an armful of wailing, drunk doppelganger.

“They cut off Black Breeze’s head!” he was sobbing. “They killed everyone and cut off the puppy’s head! I hate this stupid show!”

Axton stood stock-still for half a second before he tentatively patted Lawrence on the back. He shot a sharp look to the gang, who were all grinning and looking mildly intoxicated, too, before glancing back at Lawrence. “I’m, uh, sorry?” he offered.

“Are you shitting me, Lawrence?” Gaige commented flatly from behind Axton. “We heard you scream and thought you were dying, you ass!”

“Nope,” Tina said, grinning toothily. “Just half the main characters and their puppy.”

“Black Breeze!” Lawrence wailed, his voice muffled in Axton’s shoulder. Abruptly he whirled on Brick and pointed an accusing finger at the berserker, exclaiming, “As a fellow dog-lover, you should’ve warned me, Brick!”

Axton took a good look at the huge man taking up ninety percent of the space on Maya’s bed, only to do a triple take when he noticed Brick was trying adamantly to hold back tears.

“I forgot,” the berserker said thickly.

“You’ll cry over a damn dog, but not Rich’s unborn baby?” Lilith rolled her eyes. “And people say _I’ve_ got issues.”

“Puppies are _so_ much cuter than babies,” Brick muttered, sniffing hard.

Gaige gave a snort and tossed her head, making her pigtails bounce. “I’m out! Enjoy your lame-ass party, losers,” she cried, stomping out the door.

Axton was thirty seconds away from following her when he noticed smudges on his sleeve. He pulled at the fabric, wrinkling his nose at the foreign substance. “What’s this green glittery shit on me?” he demanded, turning his scathing look onto Lawrence.

The dude looked at him, then glanced down at his hands. “Crap, I smeared my nails!” he yelled, frowning sadly down at the mess he’d made. “Lilith, can you fix this?”

“Get over here, you spaz. I think I’ve got some left.”

“You got _nail polish_ on me?” Axton exclaimed, pulling his shirt sleeve away from him like it was radioactive now. “This shit better not stain, bro!”

“You look good in green,” Tina commented unhelpfully.

“Shaddup, you brat.”

He turned away before he could see the rude gesture the thirteen-year-old flashed him, intent on following Gaige’s example and leaving the house before his anger got the best of him. The second he was out on the street, he filled his lungs with a burst of nighttime air, held it for a tic, then released it, trying to purge that rage out of his body. It didn’t quite work - not the way it would have if he’d taken up his gun to a bandit clan. That would have been a valid option had his only assault rifle not currently been in half-melted pieces in the Crimson Raiders workshop.

“Axton?”

Lawrence’s timid voice drew him out of his angry thoughts. “What?” he asked quietly, turning to face the taller man.

Lawrence fidgeted for a second. Though the street was dark, Axton could see from the lights inside Maya’s house that Lawrence’s cheeks were still shiny with tears. “Are you angry?”

He shrugged stiffly. “It’s been a shitty day.”

Lawrence paled. “Oh, I’m - I’m sorry if I scared you,” he said quickly, dragging a hand over his cheeks. “I didn’t realize how loud I was being.”

Axton hummed, still a little irritated, but he couldn’t stay that way for long with Lawrence. “Why’re you still cryin’?” he asked quietly. Lawrence didn’t come off as the kind of guy who was a weepy drunk, but then again, he had plenty to cry over these days.

“I don’t know,” Lawrence rasped, reaching up again to wipe at the tears that just didn’t seem to stop coming.

“Um.” Axton wracked his brain for something, anything, to put the other man at ease. “I’m, uh, sorry the dog in your show died.”

Lawrence choked on what was meant to be a laugh, but came out as a wet sob. “I know it’s not real,” he said, trying to smile. “I dunno. M-maybe I just needed a reason to cry. I dunno.”

Axton hummed again, then held out his arms. “Need another hug?” he offered, only mostly serious.

“Always,” Lawrence said, trying to make it sound like it was the punchline to some joke.

They met in the middle, wrapping their arms around each other. Halfway through it, Axton tightened his grip and leaned back, forcing Lawrence onto his tiptoes. The taller man wheezed out a laugh that was only half-panicked, then sent him a questioning look when Axton finally released him and took a step back.

“Guess I needed a hug, too,” Axton said, cracking a grin that didn’t feel fake.

Slowly a smile graced Lawrence’s face. “Well, um,” he ducked his head, bashful, “if you ever need another one, I’m always open for business.”

“Good to know.”

“Yeah. Um.” Lawrence shifted and glanced over his shoulder at Maya’s. “Do you want to watch stuff with us? I know you don’t care for the books, but the show’s a lot more graphic. Lots of blood and gore.”

Axton hummed, thinking about it, then decided what the hell. Even if he didn’t know what was going on, he could still appreciate the violence. Besides, Lawrence might need another hug.

“Fine, but nobody better try to paint my nails,” he warned.

“Aw,” Lawrence fake-pouted as they made their way back inside.


	11. 21. “We’re in the middle of a thunderstorm and you wanna stop and feel the rain?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: 21. “We’re in the middle of a thunderstorm and you wanna stop and feel the rain?” Set very early on in NJ while Law is still telling his story to the Sanctuary crew.

A window-rattling crack of thunder caught everyone off-guard, especially Lawrence, if his wide-eyed look and tiny gasp was any indication. Everyone in the meeting room swung around in unison to look outside, past the balcony, at the downpour currently soaking their floating city.

“Must’ve flown into a storm,” Lilith grumbled, rising to her feet. “I’ll tell Scooter to pull Sanctuary up.” She looked at Lawrence. “Put your story on pause for a few minutes, kiddo.”

“Break time!” Gaige declared, also standing up as she cracked her back.

The room began to disperse for potty breaks and to go grab food and more booze. Though Athena also got to her feet to take care of business, Lawrence stayed seated, too high-strung to chance getting up, even just to stretch. Axton noticed the way he kept glancing over his shoulder at the balcony.

“You can get up, y’know,” he told him, flashing him a disarming grin. “You might be stuck in HQ, but your ass ain’t glued to your seat.”

Lawrence turned his wide eyes on him for a second, then took his advice to heart and got to his feet. He headed straight for the balcony, and for some reason Axton felt compelled to follow him.

Axton came to stand next to him on the balcony, his eyes on the dark clouds churning above and around Sanctuary like an angry sea. It wasn’t often Sanctuary got slammed by a storm of this calibur, given how easily they could avoid them. Someone must have fallen asleep at the wheel this time, Axton mused. It didn’t matter; they’d be out of it shortly if Scooter got his shit in gear fast enough.

Beside him, Lawrence stuck his arm out just enough for the rain to start pelting the palm of his hand. The hopeful look in his gaze faded as he wiggled his fingers. “Oh,” he muttered.

“What?”

“Nothing. Just…can I go out? Just into the alley?”

Axton blinked at him. “Why the hell would you want to?” he asked, snorting out a laugh of disbelief. “In weather like this, you’d get soaked to the bone in minutes.”

But Lawrence was already moving towards the staircase. Axton scowled and started after him, catching up in the doorway. A few Raiders had gathered under the protection of the balcony, grumbling and mumbling to themselves as they tried to dry themselves off. At the end of the alleyway, Axton could see more townsfolk sprinting for the safety of their own homes. Why the hell would anyone want to be out in this?

He turned back to Lawrence and noticed him still standing in the doorway with a look of longing on his face. “Dude, c’mon. You’re serious?”

“I just wanna feel it,” he said, already in the process of removing his jacket.

“We’re in the middle of a thunderstorm and you wanna stop and _feel the rain_?” Axton exclaimed just as another bolt of lightning streaked across the sky. “You’re gonna feel one hell of a shock when you get zapped, dude!”

But Lawrence ignored him and stepped out into the downpour. He was soaked through in mere seconds, but he didn’t seem to mind. Once completely swallowed by the storm, he tilted his face up towards the dark gray clouds. Axton could see his eyelids fluttering as he struggled to keep them open, but eventually he had no choice but to shut them against the onslaught of rain.

Axton watched as Lawrence spread his arms, trying to feel as much of the rain as he could against him. The wetter he got, the more he shook, the more his chest heaved for breath. A crack of thunder made him jerk, but he stayed put, arms spread and head tilted back towards the heavens.

“He’s gonna catch a cold and die if he doesn’t get shocked to death,” he muttered flatly to Athena, who had come to stand next to him in the doorway.

Athena merely hummed. “At least he’ll be able to feel it.”

He sent her a sharp, confused look, but she turned for the stairs before he could question what she meant. He turned back to Lawrence, who was now definitely crying as he stood by himself in the downpour. Realization dawned on him rather abruptly, leaving a bitter taste in his mouth.

Slowly, Axton’s feet moved on their own accord, bringing him out into the rain. He hardly felt the stinging bite of it on his skin, too concerned with getting to Lawrence’s side.

When he touched Lawrence’s heaving shoulders, the man let his arms drop. He turned to face him, looking more or less like a drowned rat, but there was also a wild-eyed look to him that concerned Axton a little until he started talking.

“I haven’t felt real rain since I was on Eden,” he explained shakily, choking on a strained laugh. He blinked, sending water droplets down his cheeks. “I-I haven’t felt anything since…since…”

Axton blinked at him, numb. He couldn’t imagine what that was like - not being able to feel the rain, the sun, anything for so damn long.

He moved to draw the man into a much-needed hug, but froze, not wanting to make him uncomfortable. They had shared a brief heart-to-heart in the showers earlier, sure, but that didn’t mean the guy wanted to be touched, never mind by a dude he’d only just met a day or so before.

Lawrence saw his raised hand, the way it had stuttered and fallen away from him as he aborted the idea. “Please,” he murmured, lifting his watery gaze to meet Axton’s. “I want to feel that, too. I want to feel everything again.”

With a hard swallow, Axton drew him into an embrace, wet clothes be damned. Their bodies made a gross little squishing noise as they came together, but Axton barely heard it over rain and the pounding of his own heart in his ears. Lawrence instantly reciprocated the hug, gripping him like his life depended on it, and buried his wet face into Axton’s shoulder, still shuddering.

When was the last time someone had touched him without intending to do him harm? Axton wondered, tightening his grip around the other man. He didn’t know, and something told him Lawrence wasn’t sure, either.

“Bonzai!”

The men pulled apart as Gaige suddenly appeared next to them, equally soaked as she stomped around in the puddles on the ground, cackling.

“What’re you, five?” Axton groused, flicking some water at her. “Quit stompin’ around and get inside.”

“Make me, _Ass_ -ton,” she taunted, sticking her tongue out at him in defiance.

Before Axton could haul her over his shoulder and dump her soggy ass back in HQ, Gaige seized Lawrence by his hand and began to drag him behind her as she stomped and jumped into the growing amount of puddles. Axton would’ve snapped at her to stop being so annoying, but froze when he noticed that Lawrence had a grin on his face - something he personally had never seen before. He looked years younger when he smiled, he noted, a little dazed.

Lawrence caught his gaze, then chanced sending a splash in his direction. It nailed him on his boots - not that it made a difference; they were waterlogged beyond repair at this point anyway.

Still, Axton reared back with a fake gasp of outrage. “How dare you!” he shrieked, putting a hand over his heart. “These were designer!”

“Shame,” Lawrence agreed. “They were pretty.”

Axton’s brows shot up. “Pretty?” he echoed.

“Yeah - pretty _lame_ ,” Gaige and Lawrence said at the same time, only to burst out laughing and hi-five each other.

“Oh, that’s it!” Axton exclaimed, kicking a wall of water at both of them.

In almost that same instance, Lilith returned from Scooter’s then with a flash of her phaselock powers. She paused in the doorway of HQ and scowled at the three of them faffing about in the rain like children. “Should three of the most conductive people in town be playing outside in the middle of a thunderstorm?” she asked.

As if on cue, a bolt of lightning struck tremendously close nearby - close enough that the hair on Axton’s head and arms stood on end and his chevrons began to sting against his brow. Gaige shrieked as her robot arm sparked, and Lawrence sucked in a panicked breath and slapped a hand to his head where his ECHO port was.

“Fuck this!” Gaige yelped, bolting for HQ.

“Language!” Axton yelled after her, but definitely echoed that exclamation. He turned to make sure Lawrence was with him and flashed him an apologetic look. “Sorry to cut this short, bro.”

Lawrence shook his head. “There’re some things that I’m perfectly fine with never feeling,” he stated.


	12. 30. “It’s not what it looks like…” (NSFW)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 30\. “It’s not what it looks like…” **NSFW.**

The light bulb in the lamp next to the bed shattered with a loud pop.

Axton was still coming down from what probably ranked as one of the top ten best orgasms of his life when he realized what he’d heard. He cracked open his eyes, only to blink when he realized that his hostel room had been plunged into darkness. The light bulb in the other lamp by the door had broken, too.

Now the only light came from his lover, who was still straddling his hips and riding out the last of his own orgasm. His skin was alight with vibrant purple-white tattoos, as were his eyes, and if Axton squinted hard, he could make out the flickering remnants of wings on his back. He looked utterly alien and untouchable and holy, yet there he was, perched on Axton’s dick in their bed succumbing to the best of humanity’s instincts.

Eventually the swirls on Lawrence’s skin dimmed back to their usual shade of purple. The man sat there, panting and half-delirious with satisfaction, until he also realized that they were lying in darkness.

“Um,” he started, sounding as confused as Axton felt. Then he gave a small squeak of realization and choked out a timid, “oh, shit.”

Axton blinked up at him and gave his hips a small squeeze. “Law.”

“It’s not what it looks like,” Lawrence babbled as he batted the commando’s hands away and slid off his lap.

Axton followed, rolling onto his side so he could face his lover. “Did you just - ”

“No.”

“ - orgasm so hard you lost control of your powers and blew the lights out?”

“ _No!_ ” But Lawrence couldn’t meet his gaze as got off the bed and fumbled around, trying futilely to find his pants so that he could don them and then no doubt flee the house in a flurry of shame.

Axton couldn’t help the wheezing laugh that sputtered out of him. “Holy shit,” he choked out, grinning so hard his cheeks started to hurt. “How come you’ve never done that before? Was it seriously that good this time?”

“It’s always good,” Lawrence fired back, still refusing to look at his lover as he produced a pair of pants from under the bed. Axton couldn’t tell through the darkness if they were his or not.

“Then why - ”

“I don’t know!” Lawrence snapped, yanking the pants on. He was so dang cute when he got flustered. “Maybe I just got too emotional or something. My abilities function on willpower.”

“So, what, you willed all the lights in the house to blow - just like you did?” Axton wiggled his eyebrows and shot his boyfriend a leer.

Lawrence finally turned to face him. Axton didn’t need the lights to be on to see that his expression was flat. “Now I’m _willing_ you to shut up and forget this ever happened.”

“No can do, darlin’,” Axton said as he rolled onto his back, beyond pleased. He knew he was good, but who knew he was capable of doing that?

There came a commotion from the next door neighbor’s hostel room; normally Axton would’ve hammered on the wall at him to shut the hell up, but abruptly he realized that the guy was yelling about broken glass. Almost at that same moment, the tenant on the other side of their room came storming out onto their shared balcony, shrieking to no one about the lack of power in their house.

Axton’s eyes widened when he realized what was going on. Lawrence froze, seemingly concluding the same thing.

After fumbling for their clothes, they scrambled out onto the balcony, careful to dodge the broken glass strewn by the doorway. By then their neighbor had gone back inside their dark room, but people were still complaining rather loudly all around town about the lack of lighting. Crimson Raiders were running about the darkened streets, talking with a few disgruntled civilians.

“Yo, Jessup!” Axton called, snagging the private’s attention as he hurried past. “What’s goin’ on?”

“An anomaly, sir,” the other man reported, sounding bored. “Residents are reporting that their lights and other electronic devices are all suddenly and violently malfunctioning.”

“Everyone in Sanctuary?”

“Looks like it.”

Axton just barely managed to swallow a snort of delight as the Crimson Raider left the two men standing on the balcony in silence. Beside him, Lawrence ducked his head as another wave of embarrassment consumed him. Axton just leaned against the railing, that shit-eating grin firmly in place on his face as he watched the town struggle to figure out what had just happened. If they only knew, he thought gleefully.

Eventually Lawrence tilted his head back, eyes squeezed firmly shut like he was praying to a deity for strength. He took a deep breath, then said, “You’re never going to let me live this down, are you?”

“What, the fact that I made you come so hard that you developed a personal vendetta against all the light bulbs in Sanctuary?” Axton leaned over to smooch him on the cheek. “You’re so cute.”

“Shut up.” Lawrence buried his radiant face in his hands, groaning. “God, you’re insufferable.”

“ _And_ the best at sex. This proves it,” Axton continued, puffing out his chest.

“So we have you to blame for the power outage?” came a voice from below them. They peered over the balcony in unison, finding Lilith standing in the street with her hands on her hips.

Axton’s cocky grin merely grew. “Yup! That’s me - screwin’ my superpowered boyfriend’s brains out so good he just had to tell the whole town about it,” he said, earning a murderous stare from Lawrence and a shove that sent him stumbling.

Lilith nodded, expression blank save for the corners of her mouth twitching upwards. “I’ll be sure to send you the bill for all these busted light bulbs, then.”

“You - _what_?” Axton barked, suddenly not feeling too good about what he’d done. “N-now let’s hold on a minute…!”

But Lilith was already walking down the street. Lawrence shot him a smarmy sneer and went back inside to clean up the remnants of their romp, leaving him standing by his lonesome on the balcony.

“Worth it,” he decided, then went back inside to count up his savings.


	13. 37. “Wanna dance?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: 37. “Wanna dance?” First song inspo is Aftergold feat. Tove Styrke, second is Anchor by Novo Amor.

The downside about Axton leaving on missions was that Lawrence was alone for usually a day, maybe even more depending on what the mission was. The bed he shared with Axton was cold at night, he had no one to look at memes on the ECHOnet with, and time trickled by so slowly that sometimes Lawrence swore he was going to lose his damn mind.

The plus side about Axton leaving on missions was that Lawrence was alone, which meant he could strip down to his underpants and parade around their shared hostel room like nobody’s business if he really wanted to. Granted, he could absolutely do that when Axton was around (the commando prefered it, to be honest), but there was a sense of freedom that he just didn’t have when someone else was there to witness his mostly-naked procession.

Currently, Lawrence’s mindset was unconsciously in the latter. He’d just gotten done his shift at Moxxi’s and was all too eager to jump in the shower for a quick, thorough wash. With Axton gone, that meant he was able to play music as he washed - something that irritated the other man for whatever reason. He wasn’t here now to give him and his music tastes a violent stinkeye, so Lawrence was loathe to let the opportunity go to waste.

After having located a decent music station, he set his ECHO down on the bedside table and began to disrobe for his shower. He got down to his skivvies when the lyrics to the song actually registered in his brain.

“ _…I’ve wanted sneakers since I was thirteen…_ ” crooned the singer.

Lawrence huffed out a noise of agreement. His parents hadn’t exactly been wealthy, so growing up alongside five little sisters meant sharing almost everything - his clothes, his toys, his bedroom, everything. He’d thought going off-world to college would have changed that, but he wound up more broke than ever and beyond desperate.

The song’s refrain hit him hard, and suddenly he was shaking his ass around the room, unable to stop himself as the catchy beat seized him and shoved all of his morbid thoughts away. He had two left feet and couldn’t sing for shit, but, content that he was alone, he cranked the volume on the ECHO and let himself go.

“Want some of that green rain,” he sang along, then promptly spun around and found himself face-to-face with Axton, who was in the process of obnoxiously shaking his ass alongside him.

Lawrence screamed and backpedaled so fast that he very nearly sprained an ankle. “How long have you been there?” he shrieked as he slammed into the wall. He hadn’t heard him come in over the damn music!

“Since the line about rhinestones,” Axton said, still grinning. “You got some nice moves, darlin’.”

Lawrence was so red he was pretty sure his face was going to explode. “You’re a penis and I hate you,” he ground out, then darted into the bathroom before Axton could stop him.

When he finally surfaced after his shower, calmer and unable to get that damn song out of his head, he found Axton reclining on their bed. He’d shed his vault hunting garb for a simple shirt and sweatpants combo.

“I thought you were going to be gone for another day or two,” Lawrence offered, breaking the silence.

Axton blinked, but kept his eyes on his ECHO. “Got done sooner,” he said simply, shrugging. “Might head back there in a couple of days to see if there’s anythin’ else I can do to make some extra cash, but I’m home for now.”

Lawrence merely grunted in confirmation, too distracted by getting his goddamned shirt down over his head to offer his beau a proper “I missed you” response.

“Wish I could buy you a pilot and a jet plane,” Axton said suddenly. When Lawrence finally got his shirt on and turned to send him a dirty look, he found the man looking anything but teasing. He was staring through the far wall, seemingly lost in his own thoughts, the ECHO on his lap forgotten.

Lawrence sat down on the edge of the bed and squeezed Axton’s knee. “I have a roof over my head,” he pointed out, “and food in the fridge. And you. I’m happy.”

“Are you?” Axton asked, turning to face him. He looked hopeful, but there was an undercurrent of dubiousness in his gaze that made Lawrence’s heart ache.

He smooched the commando on his forehead, making an obnoxious kissy noise in the process because he knew Axton hated that. “Hell yes. Happier than I’ve been in years. Even if you do embarrass the hell outta me sometimes.”

Axton sputtered out a laugh. “Hey, all I did was come home! You were the one dancin’ around the place in your skivvies!”

Lawrence scoffed, feigning offense, before he slid off the bed and reached for his ECHO. A quick search of the ECHOnet had him locating the same radio station he’d been shaking his ass to earlier. There was a different song playing now, slower and not as upbeat, but it was perfect for what Lawrence had in mind.

He met his lover’s gaze and offered him a smile and his hand. “Wanna dance?”

Axton’s lips quirked. “I can’t shake my ass to this,” he quipped, but took Lawrence’s hand anyway.

“I don’t want you to.” Lawrence hung his arms around his lover’s hips and hummed, pleased as Axton got with the program and slid his arms around Lawrence’s neck. “Just move with me.”

“Can do, darlin’,” Axton mumbled, lowering his head until it found sanctuary in the crook of Lawrence’s jaw and his shoulder.

The song continued, all gentle guitar twanging and ambient noises. Lawrence swayed gently along with it. He half expected Axton to get sick of it sooner rather than later and demand they put on something more upbeat, but the commando merely followed his lead, softly humming along with the tune as he familiarized himself with it.

Lawrence slid his arms up Axton’s back and drew them flush together. He briefly tightened his grip in a hug - a silent apology for not adequately welcoming him home earlier. “Glad you’re back,” he whispered, voice nearly lost to the soft vocals wafting from the ECHO.

“Glad to be back,” Axton replied with equal softness. “Even if you do dance like a bandit havin’ a seizure.”

Lawrence pinched the commando’s ass, then kissed him before he could complain about it.


	14. 44. “If you die, I’m gonna kill you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: 44. “If you die, I’m gonna kill you.” Set early in NJ before Law and Ax got together.

“Murderer!”

A sharp bolt of pain above his left shoulder blade made Lawrence’s mouth fall open with a surprised cry that came out as a wheeze. The pain grew worse in a matter of seconds, blooming into a piercing, burning sensation that took up his entire back. Confused and gasping, he blindly reached for the source of the agony and let out a garbled, disturbed noise when he felt the blade of a knife protruding from his shoulder.

“You fuckin’ asshole!” Axton was yelling at the woman who had stabbed Lawrence. He had his gun drawn, but the woman stood defiantly in his presence. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

“He killed my brother!” the woman yelled back, pointing an accusing finger at Lawrence.

“He’s not Handsome Jack!”

“He might as well be!”

As Axton and the almost-assassin continued to scream at each other, Lawrence stumbled forward onto his knees and hunched forward until his head came to rest against the ground. Despite the rising panic ebbing at his bones, he remembered abruptly the first time he’d been stabbed back on Elpis. It had been in his thigh, dangerously close to one of his major arteries. He remembered Athena’s words of wisdom that she’d offered him at the time: “Don’t pull the knife out” and, most importantly, “don’t panic.”

If he could survive getting walloped by a scav’s rusty, germ-ridden blade in the middle of Nowhere, Elpis, he could survive getting poked with a kitchen knife a block from a doctor’s office.

With a heavy exhale, Lawrence forced himself to get control over his breathing. The burning sensation was still rocketing up and down his back, especially when he tried to move, but shock was setting in, making the pain manageable. It would be enough to get him to Dr. Zed’s for an Anshin patch, assuming the knife hadn’t punctured something vital.

As Lawrence gradually came back to himself, he realized that Axton was now crouched above him, the woman no longer in sight. “Law,” the commando was yelling, “can you hear me? Shit. Fuck. If you die, I’m gonna kill you, Law, you hear me?”

Lawrence spluttered out a laugh that he immediately regretted. “How romantic,” he teased through gritted teeth.

“I should’ve fuckin’ forseen this,” Axton kept babbling angrily at himself. “As soon as Lilith made that announcement about you bein’ here - I fuckin’ knew someone was gonna try some bullshit like this…!”

Honestly, Lawrence was surprised someone hadn’t done it sooner. “Ax,” he managed to get out, “s’not your fault.”

“I should’ve been watchin’ you better - ”

“Can we just get to Zed’s? You can shower me with apologies later,” Lawrence said, still trying to put the other man at ease. It was easier not to panic when someone else was doing it for you. “S-seriously, I’ve had worse. Red hot brand to the face, remember?”

Axton wrinkled his nose down at him, then very carefully helped him get back to his feet. The change in position made Lawrence’s back scream in protest and his head churn like an ocean after a storm - something that Axton, of course, noticed immediately.

Lawrence sucked in a panicked breath when Axton swung him onto his back in a fireman’s carry. “Ax - no, no - I can walk - ” He squeezed his eyes shut and clung to the commando as he hauled his ass to the clinic.

As Lawrence predicted, the wound was pretty shallow, the blade less than three inches long and very easy to remove. Zed cleaned him up and slapped an Anshin patch on him that would hopefully seal the wound completely in an hour or so. A small dose of pain meds made the pain fade to an annoying throb that Lawrence barely noticed.

As he sat on the edge of the medical table waiting for his wound to heal, Axton paced around in front of him, still looking like he’d tasted something sour.

“Hey,” Lawrence said, grabbing his attention. “It’s not your fault, okay? You’re not, like, my keeper or anything.”

“No,” Axton agreed sullenly, “but you are my friend, and friends are supposed to watch each other’s backs when there’s a high chance that someone might be plungin’ a knife through it.”

Lawrence very nearly reached out to take Axton’s hand in his to give it a reassuring squeeze, but managed to keep himself in check. That was a little too intimate, he decided, and instead offered him a smile that was sincere, if a little tired.

“Well, I appreciate the concern,” he said. He paused, then asked slowly, almost teasingly, “You wanna do something to make it up to me?”

“Anythin’,” Axton replied almost immediately, much to Lawrence’s glee.

“Sit in on one of Tina’s Bunkers and Badasses games.”

At that, Axton’s expression soured and his shoulders slumped. “Are you - what the fuck? Of all the things you could’ve asked from me - ”

“It’ll be fun!” Lawrence assured him, grinning like a giddy little school boy. “Mordecai’s character is more or less based off of you. He’s a knight called Sir Axel the Brave - ”

“Money! Loot!” Axton exclaimed, ticking them off on his fingers. “Sex! _Sex_ , Lawrence! I would’ve gotten down on my knees for you, bro, but no-o-o, you want me to sit and listen to you goobers dick around in imaginary world shootin’ gnomes and shit - ”

“Goblins.”

“Whatever!”

Lawrence laughed, only to hiss at the slight stab of pain it brought to his back. “I’m too wounded for sex,” he informed the other man.

Axton waggled his eyebrows. “You wouldn’t have to lift a finger, bro, I promise.”

“None of that in here,” Dr. Zed snapped from across the room, startling both boys out of their little flirting game. “I know this place is a far cry from sterile, but there’re just some things I won’t allow. Out.”

At that, they hastily made for the streets of Sanctuary, giggling and red-faced from being called out. Lawrence found it was a bit easier to walk now, but Axton still offered him an arm to lean on, which he gratefully accepted. He could feel one hell of a nap coming on and was eager to get to an available bed in the Crimson Raiders HQ.

“Do you really want me in on one of your dumb games?” Axton asked him as they walked down the street. “I mean, all I’d do is mock you guys and try to fuck shit up as much as possible ‘cos I’m an ass.”

Lawrence shrugged his good shoulder. “Nah, I was kidding,” he said. “I know you hate that stuff.”

“I don’t hate it,” Axton grumbled. “I just don’t get why y’all don’t go out and shoot some real shit.”

“It’s fun to imagine the fantasy stuff. Magic and all that.”

Axton grunted. “Sex would be more fun,” he muttered, pouting.

“Well, who knows,” Lawrence teased, bumping his hip against the commando’s. “Maybe someday I’ll take you up on that offer.”

The grin that popped onto Axton’s face was too big and bright to be insincere.


	15. 46. “Hey, have you seen the..? Oh.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: 46. “Hey, have you seen the..? Oh.” Spawned by the fact that I have thus far failed to include a "Law finds a cat and Axton canonically hates cats" thing in Not Jack.

Axton began to realize that something was up when leftovers started vanishing from the fridge. The refrigerator was small and often half empty, making it easy for him to spot when food disappeared. And it had been disappearing for a while now, he realized.

He assumed it was just Johnny getting hungry a few hours after dinner and finishing up what he’d failed to eat during the meal. He didn’t have an issue with him doing that; he just wished he would let him know so that he knew whether or not he’d have to go fishing for dinner the next day.

A few days of this left Axton feeling irritated. He brought it up to Lawrence one night as they lay tangled up in the bed sheets, sweating and satisfied.

Lawrence just huffed out a laugh into Axton’s collarbone. “Johnny’s probably just hungry,” he said.

“You think I ain’t feedin’ him enough at dinner?”

His lover heard the concern in his tone and propped himself up on his elbows so that he could give him a reassuring kiss. “He’s a growing boy,” Lawrence mumbled against his lips. “I wouldn’t worry about it.”

He tried not to, but food kept vanishing, and not just leftovers anymore. That wasn’t what bugged Axton the most, though - it was the fact that he never caught Johnny in the act of swiping it. For all he knew, there was someone living under the house stealing their shit at night.

The thought was preposterous, but Axton was more paranoid than he let on. He started bolting the front door at night, and for a short time, things went back to normal.

Then his favorite t-shirt vanished, followed by one of their only good towels, and then finally the nice bullymong steak he had spent good money on. He was going to cook it up real nice for his and Lawrence’s anniversary in a few days, and now the damn thing was fuckin’ gone.

“All right,” he snapped, slamming the refrigerator door shut. That was the last goddamn straw.

He stormed the house in search of either his partner or his son. It wasn’t unusual not to find either of them around, Lawrence especially, so Axton headed towards the only other place he knew he’d find Johnny: the little workshop he’d made for himself in the alleyway behind their house.

“Hey,” he barked, slamming the door open as soon as it was within reach, “have you seen the…oh.”

Inside the tiny workshop stood Lawrence and Johnny, as well as Red and Blue, but that wasn’t what made Axton stop in his tracks. Cradled in Johnny’s arms was a cat with vibrant orange and white fur. Axton’s sudden entrance had scared the damn thing, if its puffed up tail and huge, golden eyes were any indication. Lawrence and Johnny were staring at Axton with a similar wide-eyed look in anticipation of what he was going to say.

“The fuck is this,” Axton found himself muttering, and suddenly it all made sense - the missing food and laundry. He scowled at his sneaky family and threw his hands up. “No. Before any of you ask, my answer is no.”

Johnny immediately burst into tears. Blue didn’t seem that far behind him, if his wobbling holographic lower lip was any indication, and even Red looked downcast.

Axton recoiled slightly, not expecting such an instant response, but forced himself to remain steadfast in his decision. He kept his expression irritated, his stance firm, even as Johnny continued to silently wail.

“Friendly times with fuzzball of soft meows,” Blue cried for him, rubbing at his face. Axton didn’t know why the hell Gaige had programmed Blue to be able to cry digital tears, but there they were.

Lawrence frowned at him, then pulled him out of the workshop by the front of his shirt. Axton braced himself for an onslaught of bambi-eyes and pleads from his lover, but Lawrence merely fixed him with a very unimpressed look, probably because he’d made their kid cry - not that he was feeling guilty about it. Nope.

“Did you have to do that?” Lawrence asked, putting his hands on his hips.

“I hate cats,” Axton practically whined in an attempt to explain himself. “You know this, Law. They’re mean and nasty and puke in your shoes - ”

“Listen,” Lawrence said gently, flashing a hint of those goddamned bambi-eyes, “Red told me the cat’s been coming around here for a while and likes to hang out in the workshop. You were right - Johnny’s been sneaking her food and has set up a little bed for her.”

Axton sniffed, unmoved. “And now you’re in on it. Great.”

“My point is, he’s showing responsibility. He’s been taking care of her for weeks - ”

“He’s been stealin’ our food! I thought some asshole was sneakin’ into our house at night to rob us, man!”

“Who the hell would be dumb enough to break into a house where not one, but two vault hunters live?” Lawrence wrinkled his nose at the very idea. “Look, just - what’s wrong with the cat living out here? It’s not like you hang out in the shop on a daily basis - ”

“No,” Axton cut in, shaking his head rapidly, “no, see, I know how this is gonna go. ‘Just the workshop, Ax, I promise,’ but all too soon it’ll be ‘Just the kitchen, Ax, I promise’ and then ‘Just the first floor, Ax, I promise’ - ”

Lawrence rolled his eyes. “Fine. I won’t stop you if you want to get rid of Dubcee, but I think Johnny’s old enough to - ”

“Dubcee? No offense, but what the hell kinda name is that?”

“Well, they started calling her Workshop Cat because she hung around there all the time. That got shortened to Double-You-Cee, then just Dubcee.” Lawrence shrugged, still frowning. “Not that it matters now.”

He went back inside the workshop, and Axton slowly followed, pausing in the doorway. Johnny was sitting on the floor wiggling a piece of string across the dusty concrete, enticing Dubcee into chasing after it. The little ball of fluff wiggled her butt, then launched herself at the string, snagging it between her paws and kicking at it.

A grin bloomed across Johnny’s face. Axton knew that if he had the voice, he’d probably be giggling down at the little creature.

Damn, he hated being the bad guy.

Johnny caught him staring and instantly the giddy expression was gone, replaced by a sullen, resigned look that melted the ice around Axton’s heart a little.

“You gonna hate me if I tell you I don’t want that thing around?” he asked him quietly.

Johnny huffed and fired off a series of hand signals that Axton wasn’t skilled enough to decipher. Thankfully, Red was there to supply him with the translation:

“He says he’ll always love you, but he thinks you’re being very unfair and hasty in your decision,” the hologram reported. Red hesitated, then added, “And he also called you a cat-hating loser.”

Johnny whirled on the AI and sent him a glare that could melt steel. Behind him, Lawrence snorted out a laugh that he quickly stifled.

Axton sent his kid a very unimpressed look. “Insultin’ me now, huh? Not a good way to win me over, kid.”

Johnny just shrugged and dragged his hand across his runny nose.

Axton could feel his resolve crumbling and he hated it. “It’s gonna wind up in the damn house,” he blurted, angry at himself and the rest of the world. “I’m gonna find vomit in my shoes and hairballs in the tub, if I’m fuckin’ lucky!”

“Probably,” Lawrence conceded, grinning. “She’ll probably watch us like a creep while we’re having sex, too.”

“Fuckin’ peachy.” Axton scowled and turned away, trying to gather himself.

Sensing his distress, Lawrence shuffled into Axton’s space and peppered his jaw with kisses. “I think I can find a few ways to thank you for this,” he murmured against his ear.

That made Axton hum with mild interest. He drew Lawrence closer and gave his posterior a generous squeeze. “Well, there is that little number I’ve been wantin’ to see you in,” he mused out loud.

Lawrence made a face, but agreed. “If that’s what it takes, then fine.”

“Fine,” Axton relented, then threw his hands up, disgusted with himself. “Fuckin’ fine! But I ain’t cleanin’ up after it! And no more feedin’ it five hundred dollar steaks unless you’re payin’ for ‘em yourself, kiddo!”

A dazzling grin splashed across Johnny’s face as he threw himself around Axton in an overjoyed hug. Axton couldn’t help but return it, happy that he was happy, even if it meant he was going to be sneezing and picking cat fur out of his clothes from now until he ate shit.

Lawrence, meanwhile, let out a gleeful cry of his own and knelt down to pick up where Johnny left off. “Ahh, so cu-u-ute,” he cooed in an obnoxiously high-pitched baby voice as he wiggled the string across the floor. He let out another squeal when Dubcee lunged for it. “So _cute_! I ruv you, Dubcee. Almost as much as I ruv Axton.”

Axton squinted down at the scene and couldn’t help but feel like he’d just made a massive mistake.

Sure enough, six weeks later, the damn cat was curled into a ball between Axton and Lawrence in their bed, sound asleep and spreading its goddamn hairs all over the sheets. Axton ran a finger down her fuzzy spine, making her squeak and stretch out her little toes in pleasure.

“I fuckin’ knew it,” Axton muttered, frowning.

Lawrence cracked open his good eye and smiled softly at him. “It’s worth it to see Johnny so happy,” he reminded him.

“Yeah,” Axton agreed, rolling onto his back. “It’s worth it to see you in those red lacy panties anytime I want, too.”

Lawrence whacked him with a pillow.


	16. 47. “No one needs to know.” (mildly NSFW)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: 47. “No one needs to know.” **Mildly NSFW.** Warning for brief non-consensual voyeurism; more in-depth explanation at the end of the drabble.

Maya heaved a relieved sigh the second she set foot back in Sanctuary with her companions. It had been a long day of running all over the Dust doing simple courier missions. She was mildly sunburned, her legs ached, and she had a headache from all the sun glare. Somehow simply running to and fro through the desert had been far more draining that being in combat all day - and far less entertaining at that.

Gaige stretched her arms over her head, cracking her back. “Well, I could go for a drink,” she said, practically reading Maya’s mind. “And a shower. But a girl’s gotta have priorities. You guys in?”

Maya nodded in confirmation, but Axton hesitated, his gaze sliding in the direction of the hostel.

“You go catch up with Lawrence,” Maya offered knowingly. “There’ll be time for celebratory drinks later.”

Axton gave her a grateful salute and made his way towards the hostel room he shared with Lawrence, who was no doubt eagerly awaiting his return. Maya watched him go and smirked when his easy-going gait turned into a jog, and then a sprint once he reached the staircase that led up to the second floor of the hostel.

“Haven’t seen him move that fast since word got out that HQ managed to snag a whole box of bacon,” Gaige quipped, giggling.

They reached Moxxi’s bar and made a bee-line for the counter in lieu of a regular booth. It was midday, the bar’s slowest business hour, meaning that there were actually bar stools to spare.

“Ladies,” Moxxi purred from behind the counter, leaning over. “Long time no see.”

Gaige tossed her ECHO device onto the counter top, earning a frown from Moxxi. “One shot of the best ale you got!” the younger girl declared, hopping onto one of the stools. “Or whatever.”

“Rough day?” Moxxi asked as she poured them both something to drink.

Maya shook her head and gratefully accepted her own glass of ale. “Just a lot of running back and forth,” she said.

“And they were all courier missions, too,” Gaige lamented. “I barely fired my gun all day.” She paused to knock her shot back, only to sputter and nearly spill it all on her lap. “Dammit.”

The ECHO on the counter gave a weird, muffled noise that the three women just barely heard over the pounding music of the bar. Curious, Maya cranked up the volume and scowled as Axton’s voice filtered through the old thing’s speakers.

“He always forgets to turn his damn earpiece off after missions,” she grumbled, reaching out to flick the ECHO device off.

“Yeah, that’s it, darlin’,” Axton’s breathy words crackled over the ECHO, making Maya freeze mid-reach. “Get on your knees for me.”

All three women exchanged wide-eyed looks. For a split second, they didn’t know what to do, but then Gaige began to cackle wildly and kick her feet against the bar while Maya’s scowl deepened.

“Good boy,” Axton rumbled. “Open that pretty mouth for me.”

Gaige only laughed harder. “Oh my _god_ , of course he’d say shit like that!” she squealed, wiping a tear out of her eye. “What a weirdo!”

Maya snapped out of her shocked stupor and shook her head. “We shouldn’t be listening to this,” she said, reaching for the ECHO again. “It’s an invasion of privacy - ”

“No, no!” Gaige crowed, snatching the ECHO out of Maya’s reach. “Leave it on! This is some extreme blackmail we’ve got here, ladies!”

“It’s hardly blackmail when everyone in the city and beyond knows that Axton and Lawrence are tangoing at least twice a day,” Moxxi pointed out, her painted lips curling in a smirk. “But leave it on anyway. I could use a good laugh.”

Maya wasn’t sure what was so funny about two men having sex, but she refrained from grabbing the ECHO anyway, more so out of morbid curiosity than any real desire to hear her friends get it on.

For a while the only sound was Axton’s heavy breathing as Lawrence continued to fellate him. Gaige would make faces every time Axton released a reedy little sigh or moan, and outright laugh whenever Axton offered his partner praise over how good Lawrence was. It was around the fourth “good boy” from Axton and the ensuing giggling-snort from Gaige that Maya abruptly remembered that they shouldn’t be doing this.

“We should stop,” she hissed, trying to grab for the ECHO. Gaige merely held it out of her reach and stuck her tongue out, the brat.

“The neighbor’s gonna complain again,” they faintly heard Lawrence say.

“Let ‘em. They’re just mad jealous,” Axton began to yell, “that I get to have mind-blowingly hot sex with a gorgeous dude who has no gag reflex!”

Lawrence laughed and smacked Axton somewhere, probably his thigh. “Shut up!” he hissed. “No one needs to know!”

“But I want the world to know, darlin’,” Axton crooned. “I want the whole universe to know how goddamned lucky I am.”

While grossed out, Maya couldn’t deny that the two men sounded genuinely happy in each other’s company. And they’d only been separated for a few hours, she mused, cracking a small smile. She wondered what kind of shenanigans they got up to whenever Axton was gone for longer than a day, then promptly put that thought out of her mind. It wasn’t any of her business.

There came a sudden smacking, sucking sound obnoxiously close to Axton’s earpiece, followed by another appreciative noise from Axton and a heavy exhale from Lawrence.

“Are they kissing now?” Gaige blurted, suddenly horrified. “Like, three seconds after Law just had Axton’s wing-wang down his throat? Ew! Gross!”

Moxxi just tsked. “Oh, sweet summer child,” she said, earning a frown from the younger girl. “Someday you’ll understand.”

“Probably around the time she stops using words like ‘wing-wang’ to describe penises,” Maya agreed, shaking her head.

Gaige sent both women a sweltering glare, but before she could unleash verbal hell on either of them, Maya snagged the ECHO out of her hands with a flick of her wrist and a brief snap of power. Despite the younger girl’s protests, Maya turned the ECHO off before they could hear anything else.

“It was funny for the first five minutes,” Maya said, narrowing her gaze at the other two women. “This is wrong and you know it. If Axton knew we were listening to this, he’d have a coronary.”

“That’s why it’s so funny,” Gaige pointed out, still pouting.

Maya just frowned at her and left the bar with the ECHO, determined to put the past twenty minutes out of her head.

The next morning, she made her way to towards the hostel, but kept her pace slow and leisurely, knowing that her friends were probably still very much occupied with each other even a day later. Gaige had told her horror stories of how she’d walked in on them mid-coitus despite having waited a sensible amount of time for them to finish up. The last thing Maya wanted to do was put images with the words she’d heard yesterday.

She made her way up the stairs to Axton’s hostel room, lingering another minute or two just to be on the safe side. Eventually she rapped on the door and hoped she wasn’t about to get an eyeful of something obscene. She’d had enough of that for a lifetime, thank you.

Thankfully Lawrence, fully clothed, answered the door a moment later. He was disheveled and still clearly suffering from post-sex bliss, but lit up like a tree on Mercenary Day morning when he caught sight of her.

“Maya,” he greeted, grinning as he slumped against the door frame like a drunkard. “My favorite book buddy. What’s up?”

She glanced past him, searching the hostel room for his other half. “Axton around?”

“In the shower. Anything I can help you with?”

“No,” she said, moving to leave. “But tell Axton that the next time he gets to have mind-blowingly hot sex with a gorgeous dude who has no gag reflex, he should probably check to see if his earpiece is switched off.”

Maya decided that the look of sheer mortification on Lawrence’s face was well worth the money she was going to have to spend on brain bleach.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for brief non-consensual voyeurism: Axton accidentally leaves his earpiece on and unknowingly broadcasts him and Law starting to frickle-frackle to Maya, Gaige and Moxxi. Maya eventually puts a stop to it because she’s the best and won’t stand for that kind of invasion of privacy.


End file.
